The first round of voting in France's presidential election takes place this Sunday.

The incumbent Jacques Chirac has been hit by a succession of financial scandals that in any country other than France would almost certainly have led to major investigation, possible prosecution and even being debarred from holding public office. But Jacques Chirac has presidential immunity which shields him.

So are the French public turning against him? Not at all. Astonishingly he goes into the first round in front of his socialist rival, Lionel Jospin.

Our Paris corespondent Jon Sopel reported.

JON SOPEL:
They call him "Super Menteur", Super Liar. This is Chirac's latex incarnation. France's Spitting Image has the president as a serial seducer, caught in bed with an array of women. A man who refuses to answer questions about his financial past. Someone who is equally evasive about how his manifesto proposals add up. And like all good satire, there is more than a hint of truth about all of it, though his supporters would wish otherwise.

JEAN-FRANCOISE COPE:
(Chirac Campaign)
It's not balanced because the authors have already chosen their candidate, the one they are supporting, the one they are backing and actually I think that's more Mr Jospin than Mr Chirac

ERIC ZEMMOUR:
(Jacques Chirac biographer)
(TRANSLATION)
Chirac embodies the French with all their faults. Their cynacism, the amorality shiftiness, distrust of ideas and intellectuals. A fondness for sportsmen and singers, and a carnal and physical side, a need to embrace.

JON SOPEL:
All Jacques Chirac's problems stem from when he was at Hotel de Ville as Mayor of Paris. It's not so much that Chirac is 'Super Liar', more 'Super Evader'. He simply hasn't answered any of the allegations made against him. The judges can't touch him the press don't want to seem to delve too deep and, perhaps most astonishing of all, it's far from clear how much the public even care. Chirac was Mayor of Paris for eighteen years and in the past couple of years there have been an array of eye-popping allegations. From one man, a posthumous confession that he literally handed Chirac suitcases full of money that had come from kickbacks on public works' contracts. The money was used to fund Chirac's political party. Oh, and there's the small matter of how Chirac spent a £250,000 million in cash between 1992 and 1995 on holidays for him and his entourage. Where this pile of 500 franc notes came from has still not been satisfactorily explained. Why Chirac booked the tickets under pseudonyms is a mystery. The judge who tried to investigate was blocked every step of the way.

ERIC HALPHEN:
(Investigating Magistrate)
(TRANSLATION):
They deliberately delayed the investigation abroad, especially in Switzerland. One request for an inquiry took over three months to be passed on by the French authorities.

JON SOPEL:
The inquiry so far has come to nothing. Jacques Chirac refused to talk to Halphen. France's highest court said the President was out of reach.

ERIC HALPHEN:
He never called me, wrote or had any messages sent from the Elysee saying the president would not be appearing before me. In order to find out his answer I just had to turn on my TV.

JON SOPEL:
Now this man has popped up. Didier Schuller was another big wheeler dealer for the RPR, Chirac's party. He spent seven years on the run, lying low in the Dominican Republic, but has returned to Paris to face the music. He spent a month in jail over his dodgy fundraising activities. What people want to know is if Chirac was aware of what he was up to.

DIDIER SCHULLER:
Before 1995 in France we had no official money for the election. Everybody was obliged to find money. Mr Chirac was a president of the party, so he was obliged to do the same job as the presidents of the other parties. You ask for the company who's building walls, hospitals or schools. These people need public contracts.

JON SOPEL:
And you'd say, "If you give me money, we might be able to give you the contract"?

DIDIER SCHULLER:
I was not saying this. Some people were saying this for sure. At my level I was not doing this, it was a bad job.

JON SOPEL:
But the bad job was going on?

DIDIER SCHULLER:
Sure.

JON SOPEL:
And everybody knew?

DIDIER SCHULLER:
Sure. Yes.

JON SOPEL:
Even Mr Chirac?

DIDIER SCHULLER:
Ah. 80% yes, 20%, I hope, no.

JON SOPEL:
Schuller claims that he's been gagged from promoting his book.

DIDIER SCHULLER:
We say that we are a country of human rights, but sometimes I think we are more close to Angola and Zimbabwe than England. We have a special problem during elections and one week before the election the French President is very afraid about my book.

JON SOPEL:
Some would say there are a mountain of unanswered questions surrounding Chirac. His campaign headquarters shrug them off.

JEAN-FRANCOISE COPE:
When you are a French president, it's not very easy for you to be in front of a judge everyday when at the same time you have to come and¿the army and so on. So what he proposed is to deal with this question with more calmness than today. That's why he proposed to deal with it after the election.

GILLES CORMAN:
(SOFRES Polling)
People definitely see Jospin as a more honest, moral person than Chirac. That has damaged his image. That could finally make him lose the election, but you can't be sure of that because these moral issues are not the main criteria for people when they decide their vote in France.

JON SOPEL:
This is the Portuguese night of the campaign. In a restaurant in the Paris suburbs, Chirac is about to come and meet representatives of France's two million strong Portuguese community. They are almost bursting with pride and excitement that the president is coming to their restaurant.

ANTONIO CARDOSO:
For all my Portuguese friends, it's an exceptional event. We're feeling very emotional and we welcome him with open arms. We're counting on him, especially in matters of law and order. It's very important.

JON SOPEL:
When he arrived, the Elysee Palace security guards tried to usher him straight into the restaurant. But Chirac turned round, saw a crowd and that was it. Like a magnet catching sight of iron filings, they had to come together. And so in he plunged. A kiss here, a wink there, a manly handshake where appropriate. Charm oozes from every pore. The contrast between him and the bookish Lionel Jospin could not be more stark. This is what Chirac does best, working a crowd and charming them. What he does here is manage to bring a sort of regal authority with a slightly relaxed air and for that the French people are prepared to forgive him for more or less anything. Did he give you a kiss?

UNNAMED WOMAN:
Yes, he did. Can you see? Yes. I'm very happy. It's a nice day for me.

JON SOPEL:
You see, Chirac has always had a way with the ladies. This is his heartland, the poodles and pearls arrondissement of Paris. A place where women spend an hour getting ready just to buy a baguette, where they don't just dress, they dress to kill.

NICOLE FRAINEAU:
Sexy, oh yes, very very sexy. I think I can say, and everyone knows it, he likes women, he likes being close to and in contact with women and they make him look good.

GILLES CORMAN:
This image of a seducer has always appealed to the French and they like it, even for a politician. But in the end when it becomes the only quality that people feel he has, it tends gives the impression of not being very serious.

DIDIER SCHULLER:
I did it, I went to jail, so I think I paid. I told the truth and I would be happy if Jacques Chirac did the same.

JON SOPEL:
Do you think he will, ever?

DIDIER SCHULLER:
I don't know. If he is not president, he has no choice.

JON SOPEL:
If Jacques Chirac wins, he has five more years on the world stage, while he remains untouchable at home because of his presidential immunity. If he loses, then the judges have free rein. There is more than mere power riding on the outcome of this presidential election.

This transcript was produced from the teletext subtitles that are generated live for Newsnight. It has been checked against the programme as broadcast, however Newsnight can accept no responsibility for any factual inaccuracies. We will be happy to correct serious errors.