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| Former PM Villepin warns of 'blind' Mali intervention | |
| 2013-01-16 | |
[FRANCE24] Former French prime minister  Dominique de Villepin... who may not be a woman ... has warned that military intervention in Mali risked dragging the country into an interminable conflict in the former French colony, was ill thought-out, and "not the French way". Remember him? The guy with the sash and the pretty hair? Oh, c'mon. You remember! Axis of Weasels?... Hah! I knew it'd come back to you!
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| Former French PM Villepin to run for president |
| 2011-12-13 |
| [AP] Dominique de Villepin. ... who may not be a woman ... the former French prime minister who gained international renown for speaking out against the war in Iraq, has shaken up La Belle France's presidential campaign by announcing he'll run as an independent. The announcement on French television is likely to complicate life for both the Socialist candidate, Francois Hollande, and President Nicolas Sarkozy, ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... who runs the conservative UMP party that Villepin served under. By positioning himself as a centrist, Villepin could siphon votes from both candidates, but the move is being seen primarily as a finger in the eye of Sarkozy. The two men are bitter rivals, despite inhabiting the same conservative side of the political spectrum. Villepin was acquitted in September of charges he took part in a smear campaign against Sarkozy. On Sunday, he criticized Sarkozy for not protecting La Belle France's interests at a recent EU summit and imposing several rounds of budget cuts. With growth slowing and difficult budget cuts likely ahead, both Hollande and Sarkozy have tried to paint themselves as beyond partisanship -- possibly because they fear both established parties will be blamed for La Belle France's high debt levels and poor economy. |
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| French luxury hotel club in embezzlement scandal | ||
| 2011-12-07 | ||
A prestigious hotel and restaurant club has been hit by a corruption scandal that threatens to embroil former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin
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| Chirac, Sarkozy 'received wads of cash from African despots' |
| 2011-09-18 |
 Sarkozy's bid for re-election next year is threatened by allegations of sleaze as claims that he spied on journalists and took illegal donations from France's richest woman have been followed by reports that he accepted cash from African despots.He's a French pol. Of course he took money from an African despot. The sun does rise in the east, you know. The opposition Socialists believe Sarkozy is vulnerable after an investigation was launched into claims that French politics has been illegally influenced by African dictators hoping to buy favors from Paris. Robert Bourgi, a lawyer known as "M Africa", says Jacques Chirac and Dominique de Villepin received wads of cash from French-speaking west African countries. When Bourgi turned up with a bag, he said, Chirac would sometimes ask: "Got something heavy for me?" One of the suitcases Bourgi delivered was so heavy that it put his back out. Bourgi claims the payments ceased when he went to work for Sarkozy. However, two former Chirac advisers insist that Bourgi continued delivering African money that helped fund Sarkozy's presidential campaign in 2007. Michel de Bonnecorse says Bourgi "held out a begging bowl" to African dictators on Sarkozy's behalf. In an interview with the author of a book about corruption he said that Bourgi obtained funds in 2006 from Omar Bongo, the late president of Gabon, and Denis Sassou Nguesso, the president of Congo. |
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| French Court Acquits de Villepin over Smear Scandal |
| 2011-09-15 |
| [An Nahar] A French appeals court on Wednesday confirmed the acquittal of former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin ... who may not be a woman ... over a political scandal in which he was accused of smearing President Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... The public prosecutor had called for the suave potential candidate in next year's presidential election and bitter Sarkozy rival to be given a 15-month suspended sentence in the so-called Clear stream scandal. "I want to salute the independence of our judiciary which has held out against political pressure," Villepin said after the verdicts were read out in a clear attack on what he claims was a politically motivated case. "I'd like to believe that this decision will help to make our old country less vulnerable to rumor and slander," he said, recalling that the Clear stream scandal erupted just ahead of the 2007 presidential election. "How I would like this to be a lesson for the 2012 presidential election," he said. Villepin and his former mentor, ex-president Jacques Chirac, were accused over the weekend of having received 20 million dollars from African leaders, including financing elections. They have denied the allegations. No, no! Certainly not! which are being investigated. Villepin has suggested those revelations were also aimed at his potential bid for the presidency, in which he could split the vote on the right and derail Sarkozy's chances of getting through to the second round. The Clear stream case centered on a fake list of names that falsely implicated Sarkozy in kickbacks on arms deals with Taiwan, with Sarkzoy accusing Villepin of causing his name to be on the list. The trial focused on a web of murky claims and counter-claims about who in European defense company EADS, owner of Airbus, was responsible for the fake list, and whether Villepin could have prevented it. Villepin, a diplomat best remembered for leading the charge against the Iraq war at the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... in 2003, was cleared of all charges in a first trial that ended last year. Public prosecutors appealed but Sarkozy did not take part in the appeal. Two co-accused -- former deputy boss of aerospace giant EADS Jean-Louis Gergorin and former EADS employee and mathematician Imad Lahoud -- were incarcerated for six and 18 months respectively and fined 40,000 euros. Prosecutor Jean-Louis Perol had accused Villepin of being guilty of "complicity by abstention" for failing to stop the false claims. The case dating back to 2004 centers on a list -- later proved to be false -- of account holders at the Clear stream bank in Luxembourg who had allegedly received kickbacks from the sale of French frigates to Taiwan. One name on the list was that of Sarkozy, then finance and interior minister under Chirac. Sarkozy served alongside Villepin under Chirac, but the pair fell out over who should succeed him. |
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| -Lurid Crime Tales- |
| Chirac accused of big cash harvest in Africa |
| 2011-09-12 |
[Daily Nation (Kenya)]  African leaders gave former French president Jacques Chirac and his prime minister Dominique de Villepin... who may not be a woman ... briefcases full of cash, notably to finance election campaigns, a former aide alleged today. Mr Villepin, a potential candidate in next year's presidential election, denied the allegations. No, no! Certainly not! which claim to shed new light on the French political establishment's often shady relationship with former colonies in Africa. Robert Bourgi, a lawyer with a network of African contacts who advised Chirac and Villepin before changing camps in 2005 to aid now President Nicolas Sarkozy ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... , made the allegations in La Belle France's Journal du Dimanche newspaper. Mr Bourgi said he "took part in handing over several briefcases to Jacques Chirac in person, at Gay Paree city hall" when the future president was mayor in the 1980s and 1990s. "There was never less than five million francs (more than 750,000 euros). It could go up to 15 million," Mr Bourgi said, giving a detailed account of how Mr Chirac would offer him beer while allegedly putting away the bundles of cash. "I remember the first handing over of funds in Mr Villepin's presence. The money came from Marshal Mobutu (Sese Seko), president of Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo)." "It was in 1995. He had given me 10 million francs that Jacques Foccart gave to Chirac," Mr Bourgi said, referring to his predecessor who was president Charles de Gaulle's pointman for Africa and then briefly also for Chirac. Mr Bourgi said the money handed over amounted to "several million francs a year. More during elections". "In the run-up to the 2002 presidential campaign (won by Chirac), Villepin asked me outright 'what steps to take'." Mr Bourgi said five African leaders came to Villepin's office: Senegal ... a nation of about 14 million on the west coast of Africa bordering Mauretania to the north, Mali to the east, and a pair of Guineas to the south, one of them Bissau. It is 90 percent Mohammedan and has more than 80 political parties. Its primary purpose seems to be absorbing refugees... 's Abdoulaye Wade, Burkina Faso ...The country in west Africa that they put where Upper Volta used to be. Its capital is Oogadooga, or something like that. Its president is currently Blaise Compaoré, who took office in 1987 and may be in the process of being chased out now... 's Blaise Compaore, Ivory Coast's Laurent Gbagbo ... Former President-for-Life of Ivory Coast from 2000 to 2011. Laurent lost to Alassane Ouattara in 2010 but his representtive tore up the results on the teevee and he refused to vacate the presidential palace. French troops assisted the Oattara forces in extricating him from his Fuhrerbunker... and Congo-Brazzaville's Denis Sassou Nguesso and Gabon's Omar Bongo. There, they handed over around 10 million dollars for the 2002 campaign, he alleged. Mr Villepin strenuously denied the allegations. No, no! Certainly not! "This is all just nonsense and smokescreens," he told the newspaper. Mr Bourgi said that since he started working for Sarkozy he had no longer brought in cases of African cash, although another former African advisor to Chirac, Michel de Bonnecorse, denied this. He told Pierre Pean, who also interviewed Bourgi for his new book "Briefcase Republic", that Bourgi himself had in 2007 dropped off a large briefcase at Sarkozy's feet when he was interior minister. Mr Chirac, 78, was last week excused from attending his corruption trial over alleged ghost jobs created during his time at city hall. His doctors said he was afflicted by memory lapses. |
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| India-Pakistan |
| Families of Frenchmen killed in Pakistan attack sue judge |
| 2011-06-16 |
| [Dawn] Relatives of Frenchies killed in a 2002 bombing in Pakistain are suing a judge who probed the case, their lawyer said Wednesday, alleging it was falsely framed as a suicide kaboom. "Yeah! It wuz somethin' else!" They lodged a complaint alleging that the judge, Jean-Louis Bruguiere, had ignored an autopsy on the suspected bomber which they say cast doubt on claims that he drove a vehicle packed with explosives, said the lawyer, Olivier Morice. "All these years, real disinformation has been orchestrated in order to make people believe that this attack was carried out as a suicide kaboom," he said. The ongoing probe, now under the supervision of a different judge, centres on allegations that the attack was Dire Revenge™ for the cancellation of kickbacks promised to officials involved in the sale of French submarines to Pakistain. The bombing in Bloody Karachi in 2002 killed 11 French engineers working for the French state company that built the submarines and at least three Paks. The complex case has implicated President Nicolas Sarkozy, ...23rd and current President of the French Republic and ex officio Co-Prince of Andorra. Sarkozy is married to singer-songwriter Carla Bruni, who has a really nice birthday suit... who was budget minister at the time. He has denied any involvement. The victims' families have accused officials of trying to bury the affair. Their latest suit accuses Bruguiere, who led the French judicial investigation into the bombing from 2002 to 2007, of false testimony and obstructing justice. They have already brought a manslaughter suit against former president Jacques Chirac, former prime minister Dominique de Villepin ... who may not be a woman ... and executives involved in the arms deals, and have called for Sarkozy to be questioned. Judges have also been investigating whether money paid in commissions ended up being channelled to fund political activities in La Belle France. Witnesses have told Sherlocks Sarkozy approved the commissions as budget minister at the time. Sarkozy has dismissed the claims as a "fairytale." |
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| France sends carrier to Libya, conducts more flights | ||||
| 2011-03-21 | ||||
 PARIS - France sent an aircraft carrier towards Libya on Sunday and its warplanes carried out further operations over the north African country, armed forces and defence officials said.
President Nicolas Sarkozy's government, alongside Britain, was at the forefront of a campaign to win U.N. backing for a no-fly zone over Libya and to build an international coalition for military strikes to enforce it. French planes fired the first shots on Saturday in the campaign to force Muammar Gaddafi's troops to cease fire and end attacks on civilians. France's leadership in the diplomatic and military arenas appeared to have rallied public opinion behind President Nicolas Sarkozy, whose approval ratings have been languishing near record lows ahead of presidential elections early next year. Even former prime minister Dominique de Villepin, one of Sarkozy's bitterest political critics
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| French ex-PM questioned over Pakistan bomb attack |
| 2010-12-01 |
 [Dawn] A French judge questioned former prime minister Dominique de Villepin... who may not be a woman ... on Tuesday about a Pak bombing in 2002 that killed 11 French submarine engineers, sources close to the inquiry said. He was questioned for two hours by anti-terrorist magistrate Marc Trevidic, who is leading an inquiry into the attack that has sparked allegations of political corruption and Dire Revenge-taking in France. Villepin was questioned last Thursday for four hours as a witness in a separate probe into whether French officials received illegal payments related to arms deals in 1995. Witnesses have alleged the Pakistain bombing was Dire Revenge for the cancelling of kickbacks paid to officials in the arms deals, in a complex case linked to alleged illegal political funding and implicating President Nicolas Sarkozy. But Villepin repeated Tuesday during questioning that he did not believe there was any link between the attack in the Pak city of Bloody Karachi and the stopping of the payment of the commissions, the source said. Villepin was chief of staff to then president Jacques Chirac, who cancelled the commissions after he took office in 1995 because he suspected they would lead to kickbacks to his political rival Edouard Balladur, a Sarkozy ally. Villepin is also Sarkozy's bitterest political rival and likely to run against him for president in 2012. Witnesses have also alleged Sarkozy, budget minister at the time of the arms deal and Balladur's campaign front man, was linked to the commissions. The current French leader has angrily dismissed talk of his involvement as a "fairy tale" and denies any knowledge of kickbacks. The bombing in Bloody Karachi in 2002 killed 11 French engineers and at least three Paks. Relatives of the French victims plan to sue Villepin and Chirac for manslaughter and have called for Sarkozy to testify. |
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| Villepin cleared over Sarkozy smear trial |
| 2010-01-29 |
 [Al Arabiya Latest] Former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin was acquitted Thursday on charges of plotting a smear campaign against long-time rival Nicolas Sarkozy to sabotage his presidential bid.The court ruled there were no grounds to convict the 56-year-old politician of complicity to slander Sarkozy in 2004, when the two men were angling to succeed president Jacques Chirac. The acquittal was an outright victory for Villepin and a slap for Sarkozy who had reportedly vowed to hang those responsible for the scandal by a "butcher's hook." |
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| No jail request for de Villepin | |||
| 2009-10-21 | |||
French prosecutors have demanded an 18-month suspended sentence for former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin
Dubbed France's trial of the decade, the hearings are due to end on Friday but a verdict is not expected before January. Mr de Villepin, 55, is charged with plotting in 2004 to discredit Mr Sarkozy at a time when the two men were rivals to succeed then-President Jacques Chirac. He is accused of passing forged documents to a French magistrate that wrongly implicated Mr Sarkozy in a major corruption scandal. Mr Sarkozy filed suit, saying he believed Mr de Villepin was the "primary instigator" behind the campaign to thwart his presidential bid. Prosecutors argued that while Mr de Villepin had not deliberately taken part in the plot to defame Mr Sarkozy, he had failed to take action to stop the conspiracy. Prosecutors also recommended sentences for three other defendants in the case.
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| Villepin Trial Opens in France | ||
| 2009-09-22 | ||
On the first day of his civil trial in the so-called Clearstream affair, former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin
"I am here because of the determination of one man, Nicolas Sarkozy," Mr. Villepin said before taking his place on the defendants' bench. "I will leave free and vindicated."
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