Former PM cleared of presidential smear claim

Former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin has been cleared by an appeal court of being part of a smear campaign against President Nicolas Sarkozy, his bitter political foe, in the run up to the 2007 election.

The dropping of charges yesterday in what is known as the Clearstream affair, for its links to the Luxembourg-based securities clearing house, ends a six-year legal battle for Mr Villepin and leaves him free to challenge Mr Sarkozy in the 2012 election.

Mr Villepin, who has quit Mr Sarkozy’s conservative UMP party and published his own centre-right political manifesto, was acquitted of charges last year by a lower court, but prosecutors appealed against that verdict.

“I’ve come out of this test even stronger than before, and even more determined to serve my fellow Frenchmen,” Mr Villepin told reporters outside the court following the verdict.

The case centred on a forged list of names, made public ahead of the 2007 presidential election, which falsely linked Mr Sarkozy to a corruption probe relating to secret Luxembourg bank accounts.

Mr Villepin, prime minister from 2005 to 2007 under president Jacques Chirac, was accused of doing nothing to stop rumours about the list even though he knew it was fake.

Prosecutors said he was an “accomplice by abstention” in the scam, which tried to falsely accuse Mr Sarkozy and others of stashing covert kickbacks in accounts with Clearstream.

“I’d like to think that this decision will help make our country less susceptible to rumours and insults, which should be treated with the contempt they deserve,” Mr Villepin said.

He will not be a major player in the 2012 election but he could eat into support for Mr Sarkozy.