AFTER FIVE weeks of farce, intrigue, accusations and speculation, the Clearstream trial came to an end yesterday. While verdicts are not expected until January 2010, public prosecutor Jean-Claude Marin called for heavy sentences this week.
Charged with “complicity in slander and the use of forged documents” in an attempt to smear political rival Nicolas Sarkozy, former prime minister Dominique de Villepin risks an 18-month suspended prison sentence and a €45,000 fine.
Mr Villepin denied knowing that the list of bank accounts which implicated Mr Sarkozy in bribery were faked, but the prosecutor maintained that he allowed investigations to continue once he became aware of this fact, making him guilty by omission.
Jean-Louis Gergorin, former vice-president of European aerospace group Eads, faces three years’ imprisonment, with 18 months suspended, and Imad Lahoud, his former employee and alleged accomplice, risks a two-year sentence, with six months suspended. Each also face a fine of €375,000.
The alleged masterminds of the fake Clearstream listings, Lahoud and Gergorin were the odd couple of the affair, each claiming to have been manipulated by the other. The Franco-Lebanese mathematician and his former boss provided the media with the best quotes of the trial. Lahoud’s many different versions of events earned him the nickname “Pinnochio”, while Gergorin was referred to as “bonkers” by one of de Villepin’s lawyers. Lahoud’s lawyer began his defence by apologising for his client’s many lies. “He may be the biggest Pinnochio in this case,” said Olivier Pardo, “But he is certainly not the Machiavelli.”
Although there were 41 plaintiffs in the trial, Nicolas Sarkozy was clearly first among equals. The president was accused by other plaintiffs’ lawyers of hijacking the trial, preventing them from finding out how their names had come to be on the bogus lists. Mr Sarkozy’s lawyer, Thierry Herzog, denied that the case was a political show trial.
Significantly, the court did not request that Mr Villepin be declared ineligible to stand for office if he is found guilty. Mr Villepin has clearly stated that he intends to be a candidate for the 2012 presidential election, and has used his five weeks in the spotlight to continue the offensive against the most tenacious of his accusers. After the sentences were announced, Mr Villepin declared to the cameras: “Nicolas Sarkozy promised to hang me from a butcher’s hook. I see that this promise has been kept.”
Beyond the farce and intrigue, "l'affaire Clearstream" has posed more serious questions about the independence of the judicial system and the integrity of the French state. A poll by l'Expressmagazine found that 52 per cent of the French public believe that the court cannot be impartial in a trial where the president – who is also head of the judiciary – is a plaintiff. The question of the court's impartiality was also the backbone of Mr Villepin's defence.