It is worthy of a political thriller. The political elite in Paris is gripped by the search for an anonymous poison-pen writer who concocted fake allegations against leading politicians and businessmen.
The so-called ”Clearstream” affair is the latest battle in the bitter rivalry between the presidential pretender, the Interior Minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, and the Prime Minister, Dominique de Villepin. The saga has prompted investigators to search all corners of France’s political hierarchy, from the intelligence services to the defence ministry, for the culprit who planted fake allegations about Sarkozy.
In June 2004 an anonymous figure sent an unsigned letter to a judge accusing some top politicians and leading businessmen of laundering money through secret accounts at the Luxembourg bank Clearstream. On the list was the then Finance Minister Sarkozy, who had made no secret of his hopes of succeeding President Jacques Chirac. Paris braced itself for the scandal of the decade, but the judge quickly established the claims were false.
Sarkozy felt the scandal had been exploited by De Villepin to damage him in the run-up to next year’s presidential race. He is now intent on uncovering the mysterious writer.
Sarkozy has added his name to a civil suit for ”slanderous denunciation” which had already been brought by leading businessmen who had been wrongly named. Several other politicians are preparing to join the suit, including the Socialist and former finance minister Dominique Strauss-Khan, who was also falsely accused. The hunt has led investigating judges to search defence ministry offices and those of several senior intelligence figures. Media reports said De Villepin’s offices could also be searched.
The Defence Minister, Michèle Alliot-Marie, said: ”This search was a mystery to me. As I had nothing to hide, I authorised the search to go ahead, even in my absence.”
The Socialist MEP Vincent Peillon said the scandal had made France ”the laughing stock of Europe”. He said even if the latest twists in the affair were just another round of infighting between Sarkozy and De Villepin, the saga was now calling into question the highest offices of the state, business and the justice system.
Alain Madelin, an MP in the ruling UMP who has also joined the suit, said he did not imagine there was a ”monstrous political plot”, but rather the names were used as a smokescreen .
Jean-Pierre Chevènement, a former Socialist minister and head of the Citizens Movement party and also wrongly named, described the affair as a ”vile campaign”.
Investigators have not ruled out the possibility the bogus accusations could have been linked to a struggle for the control of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company, EADS, which makes the European Airbus. – Guardian Unlimited Â