De Villepin cleared of Sarkozy slander

PARIS, Sept. 14 (UPI) -- A French appeals court has cleared former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin of using a bogus corruption scandal to smear President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The Paris court upheld an earlier decision acquitting de Villepin of charges of complicity in a dirty tricks smear campaign during the run-up to the 2007 French presidential race, The Guardian newspaper reported Wednesday.

The scandal involved an anonymous poison-pen letter accusing a number of senior French politicians and business figures of laundering money through hidden foreign accounts.

Among those on the list was Nicolas Sarkozy, who was finance minister at the time and a contender to succeed Jacques Chirac as president.

The judge who received the letter quickly established that the accusations were false.

Sarkozy accused de Villepin of deliberately using the bogus scandal to smear him.

De Villepin's acquittal was a setback for Sarkozy who had been the been the key plaintiff in the case.