Villepin faces appeal hearing

FORMER Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin is back in court after prosecutors appealed against his acquittal in the Clearstream affair.

As the hearing opened at the Paris appeal court, there was news of a possible new element: a letter has supposedly been sent to the court proving he knew one of the men found guilty, which Mr de Villepin had denied.

Villepin was accused of being involved in a smear campaign in 2004 against the then Interior Minister, and fellow UMP member Nicolas Sarkozy.

Both men were presidential hopefuls for the 2007 election, though Villepin dropped out after the Clearstream scandal.

The two men are expected to be rival candidates next year, Villepin this time standing for his new party République Solidaire.

Villepin was one among five defendants accused of a plot to leak a forged list of people, including Sarkozy, meant to have received bribes on the sale of French warships to Taiwan.

He denied any involvement in a plot and was cleared last year, though guilty verdicts were passed against two of the others accused.

Now the case is being looked at again by the Paris appeal court after the public prosecutor appealed. Villepin is accused of “collusion in a slanderous denunciation”.

According to the lawyer of Imad Lahoud, who was found guilty of forgery, his client’s wife has sent a letter to the court which contradicts Villepin’s assertion that he did not know Lahoud. The court has however not yet acknowledged receipt of it.

Olivier Metzer, one of Villepin’s lawyers, said: “This is a new lie and won’t be the last. Dominique de Villepin is calm, he has nothing to fear. By not appealing Nicolas Sarkozy recognised his innocence.”

Photo: David Mendiboure - Service photo de Matignon