Former French President Jacques Chirac has been ordered to stand trial in an alleged corruption scandal dating back to his time as Paris mayor — a case that caught up with him in retirement once he lost the judicial immunity of France’s highest office.

A magistrate ordered Chirac, whose 12-year presidency ended in 2007, to stand trial on charges of embezzlement and breach of trust, a judicial official said. Nine others also were sent to trial, including a relative of former President Charles de Gaulle.

The prosecutor’s office had requested that the case against Chirac be dropped, saying the statute of limitations had expired on many of the events in question. If the case goes forward, it will mark the first time a former leader of modern France has been forced to defend himself in court.

Already, the mere fact of 76-year-old Chirac’s being investigated has been a humiliating coda to his four-decade political career. Suspicions of corruption and nepotism, mostly dating from Chirac’s 1977-95 tenure as Paris mayor, dogged his presidency.

Xaviere Simeoni, the investigating magistrate who ordered Chirac to stand trial, has been probing whether people in his circle were given sham jobs as advisers and paid by Paris City Hall, even though they weren’t working for it.

Chirac’s office said in a statement that he was “serene and determined to prove in court that none of the jobs still being debated were fake”.

If sent to trial and convicted, Chirac would risk up to 10 years in prison, a euro150,000 fine and disqualification from public office for 10 years.