Villepin denies Clearstream plot

Former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin has denied in court he was involved in a plot to smear Nicolas Sarkozy during his bid for the presidency.

Mr Villepin is accused of orchestrating a campaign against Mr Sarkozy in 2004 using a forged list of people with illegal offshore accounts in the Clearstream International bank in

Luxembourg.

He told the Paris court he was not involved in any plot and categorically denied sending the list of names to a judge knowing the list had been forged. He also denied getting a contact to

pass the list to the judge.

The list was allegedly of people who were receiving bribes from international arms sales and included a veiled reference to Mr Sarkozy. They were shown to be fake by French security

officials who, Mr Villepin told the court, were investigating a possible link to Osama bin Laden.

He rejected allegations made in court by his co-defendants - Imad Lahoud and Jean-Louis Gergorin - that he told them of receiving “instructions” from ex-President Jacques Chirac, saying:

"There were never any presidential instructions in the Clearstream dossier and I never passed on any instructions from Jacques Chirac.”

Mr Villepin is accused of "complicity in false accusation, complicity in using forgeries, receipt of stolen property and breach of trust". He could face up to five years in jail if found

guilty.