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Villepin accused of attempt to slander Sarkozy

Vaiju Naravane

Party legislators call for Prime Minister's resignation

Paris: A full-blown political crisis is brewing in France with accusations flying fast and furious that Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin contributed to a smear campaign against his political rival, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.

With several MPs from his own conservative UMP party suggesting openly that he should step down, Mr De Villepin is expected to make a last ditch attempt to defend his reputation and his job when Parliament reconvenes after the May Day break on Tuesday.

Charges rejected

In a radio interview, the Prime Minister said there was "no question" of his stepping down and that the accusations against him were entirely baseless.

Mr De Villepin's latest woes spring from what has come to be known as the "Clearstream affair", a complex web of deliberately cooked-up, bogus allegations against several prominent industrial and political leaders accused of having pocketed hefty commissions during the sale of French frigates to Taiwan several years ago. Mr. Sarkozy's name figured on a long list of alleged "recipients" said to have stashed money into off-shore accounts through a Luxemburg financial company called Clearstream.

Long dormant, the matter jumped into the media spotlight last week when the daily Le Monde leaked the testimony of a top secret service official who reportedly said he was asked to investigate possible links between Mr. Sarkozy and Clearstream at the behest of Mr. De Villepin.

The request, the officer reportedly said, was made on President Jacques Chirac's orders, despite the fact that the list had been proved to be bogus.

Both Mr. Chirac and Mr De Villepin have stoutly denied they ever asked for an investigation of Mr Sarkozy. The Interior Minister was not informed that he had been cleared of all wrongdoing.

On Tuesday, Mr De Villepin is likely to face tough questioning from parliamentarians and on Wednesday at the weekly Cabinet meeting in the presence of Mr. Chirac, he will be responding to an angry Mr Sarkozy who has filed a complaint alleging slander.

The prosecutor's office in Paris said it was not at this stage aware of any plans to interview the Prime Minister.

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