Analysis: Crime or conspiracy?

Mr Schuller has been living in the Dominican Republic

By BBC News Online's Clare Murphy

The fugitive French politician Didier Schuller has returned home after years in exile with a collection of allegations which may prove highly embarrassing for a right-wing president looking for re-election this year.

When there is a problem in an aeroplane, sometimes one can blame the company, sometimes one blames the pilot, but it is extremely rare that one attacks the head of the cabin crew - I was head of the cabin crew

Didier Schuller

Mr Schuller, who has been on the run for seven years, has come back from his Caribbean hideaway promising revelations about clandestine fund-raising for the Gaullist Rally for the Republic (RPR). He has already dropped several key party names in interviews with the French press.

He has not pointed any fingers directly at French President Jacques Chirac, who spent months last year dogged by sleaze allegations until a court ruled that he was immune from prosecution.

But whatever the exact nature of his revelations, it is widely agreed that the return of public attention to RPR funding scandals comes at a particularly unfortunate time for the party and Mr Chirac, less than three months before presidential elections.

Dodgy building

Mr Schuller, who is now 54, disappeared with his family in 1995 after being named in an investigation into a bribery scandal.

The alleged affair centred on the RPR in the Hauts-de-Seine department in the west of Paris, where he was an RPR councillor and head of the public housing office.

Under the system, building firms allegedly paid under-the-table "fees" to the RPR for lucrative housing contracts in the city, during the period that Mr Chirac was Mayor of Paris.

An RPR official, Jean-Claude Mery, who is now dead, claimed in a video-taped statement released in 2000 that Mr Chirac was fully aware of the scheme.

In an interview with the French daily Le Monde before leaving the Dominican Republic, Mr Schuller said the backhanders system was run by an "organisation where decisions were taken at a level far higher than mine".

Police were waiting for Mr Schuller at Paris airport

He has claimed that, despite heading the public housing office from 1986 to 1994, he was never at the heart of the process in which deals were arranged with builders and that this was under the supervision of others.

"When there is a problem in an aeroplane, sometimes one can blame the company, sometimes one blames the pilot, but it is extremely rare that one attacks the chief steward," he said. "I was the chief steward."

'Paid to stay away'

Asked who was at the controls, Mr Schuller answered: "That would appear to be clear, wouldn't it?"

I have no proof showing that the Schuller case was orchestrated by the government, but I am totally convinced that is the case

Alain Juppe
Former RPR Prime Minister

To round off his allegations, Mr Schuller says that he had been under instructions from the French Interior Ministry not to return to the country and had received regular transfers of money from French officials to cover his expenses.

"This confirms that the French authorities at a certain level were interested in keeping us away from the country," Mr Schuller told a weekly magazine in the Dominican Republic.

His allegations have been promptly rubbished by members of the RPR.

Former Prime Minister Alain Juppe claimed that the socialist-led government had "orchestrated" the Schuller case to divert attention from its own failings.

Voluntary return

The recent furore surrounding Mr Schuller began when his son apparently decided to dish the dirt on his father last month.

Antoine Schuller told Le Parisien that he was revolted by his father and revealed he was in hiding on the north coast of the Dominican Republic. Soon afterwards, French Government officials began extradition procedures.

Mr Schuller, however, declared he would return to the country of his own volition and would not battle the extradition request in court.

"I am sure of my innocence, but I prefer to return to France to sort out a few things," he said.

"I will not remain silent."