Trial begins for ex-PM Villepin

FORMER PM Dominique de Villepin goes on trial today, charged with defaming President Sarkozy.

Villepin is the most high-profile figure among five defendants and is accused of involvement in a smear, which involved the leaking in 2004 of a supposed list of names of account holders at the Clearstream bank in Luxembourg.

The named people, including then Economy Minister Nicolas Sarkozy and Dominique Strauss-Kahn, current head of the IMF, who were supposed to have benefited from illegal commissions on sales of warships.

Investigating judges believed Villepin to have been the instigator of the plot, hoping to derail Sarkozy’s presidential hopes for 2007. However the public prosecutor has put forward a case that Villepin merely allowed the plot to take place, without having initiated it. He is charged with complicity in defamation and fraud and covering up abuse of confidence and theft – if found guilty he could face up to five years in prison and a fine of €45,000.

The theft aspects relate to genuine lists of Clearstream customers obtained by a consultant, Florian Bourges and journalist Denis Robert, who are among those on trial. These were then falsified in connection with the defamation plot, it is alleged.

The judicial inquiry found the false lists were sent to a judge as anonynous letters by Jean-Louis Gergorin, then vice-president of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS). Bourges and Robert have admitted giving the real lists to Imad Lahoud, an EADS employee. Lahoud has admitted falsifying them and has said Villepin knew about it. Gergorin has alleged he acted on Villepin's instructions.

Villepin, a member of Sarkozy’s UMP Party, says he made investigations into the lists as Minister for Foreign Affairs and then Interior Minister, but says he was in good faith and did not target Sarkozy.

He denies any wrongdoing and has said he welcomes the chance to appear in court and clear his name. His head-to-head with Sarkozy in this matter is all the more significant as he has announced himself as a possible challenger for the presidency in 2012.

About forty other people apart from Sarkozy appear as plaintiffs in the case, including former Socialist ministers Laurent Fabius and Jean-Pierre Chevènement and current Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux.

The trial, at the Paris Criminal Court, is expected to last until October 21.

STORY:Ex-PM on trial in Clearstream affair

David Mendiboure - Service photo de Matignon