Ex-PM stars in French slander trial

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(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-22 02:26

Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin (L) and his wife Marie-Laure arrive for the start of the trial, dubbed the "Clearstream Affair", at the courthouse in Paris on September 21, 2009. Dominique de Villepin faces charges of plotting to smear Nicolas Sarkozy before the presidential election of 2007. The case has joined a long and murky list of French political scandals since it emerged in 2004 when Villepin and Sarkozy were rival ministers in the centre-right government of President Jacques Chirac. [Agencies]

PARIS：Former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin lashed out at French President Nicolas Sarkozy on Monday at the start of a slander trial involving alleged dirty tricks by top politicians and businessmen.

"I am here because of the determination of one man. Nicolas Sarkozy," Villepin said before taking his place on the defendants' bench. He suggested Sarkozy was using the trial in France's so-called "Clearstream affair" as a political weapon.

Sarkozy claims Villepin was behind a smear campaign aimed at thwarting Sarkozy's bid for the 2007 presidential election. Sarkozy is one of some 40 plaintiffs in the trial, which also will delve into old international arms deals, offshore bank accounts and the French aviation and defense industries.

Villepin is accused of complicity in slander and complicity in forgery. He denies wrongdoing, but the trial could dash the political ambitions of the eloquent diplomat, known for his 2003 UN speech urging the United States not to invade Iraq.

"I will emerge free and clear," Villepin said before the trial began, standing alongside his wife and three children. "I know that truth will triumph." He said, "My battle is not a personal battle. It is a battle of all those who are victims of the abuse of power."

Once the trial started, Sarkozy's lawyer complained that Villepin had lobbed "an insult" at the court system for suggesting it was not neutral and had been influenced by the president. Thierry Herzog asked Villepin to "have confidence in the justice system."

About 20 witnesses are expected to testify in the trial, scheduled to run through October 21.

The complex affair dates back to 2004, when both Sarkozy and Villepin were leading conservative hopefuls to succeed then-President Jacques Chirac.

The case began with a mysterious list claiming to show clients who held secret accounts with Luxembourg clearing house Clearstream, including Sarkozy and other leading French political and business figures. The accounts were purportedly created to hold bribes from a 1991 sale of warships to Taiwan, among other shady income.

Villepin was given the list, and he asked a retired general to investigate it. It turned out to be a hoax, but was by then already circulating among political and legal circles.

The 225-page indictment says Villepin should have alerted judicial authorities to the scam earlier.

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