It's no secret that Chirac/Villepin detest Sarkozy. With Chirac/Villepin offering more of the same (i.e. no change) a lot of people have been attracted to Sarkozy who seems to be serious about making bold changes in France. Plenty of people on the French left also despise Sarko, believing that he is too heavy handed and dictatorial. Be that as it may, Sarko used to be Chirac's right hand man but was tossed aside by Chirac like so many others before and after him, with Villepin being the most recent case. After that incident Sarko moved away from Chirac and set out his own course and has a very strong and loyal following. Chirac is meanwhile nearing the end of long career and may have to face very serious allegations of corruption which could lead to jail or financial problems so having close friends in high places will be important for him when his term ends next year.
In that context, a real bombshell landed yesterday when a retired senior intelligence official revealed that Villepin, on the order of Chirac, had organized a brutal smear campaign against Sarko to discredit him and send him into legal quagmire. An judge had received documents and a CD with bank details that was suggesting Sarko had offshore bank accounts where he hid money. Previous reports have suggested connections to Villepin and the bogus information and yesterdays evidence in court seems to point in that direction. And to think that these guys are all in the same political party.
General Philippe Rondot says M. Villepin - on Jacques Chirac's orders - asked him to conduct an investigation in January 2004 into allegations of financial corruption against his fellow minister, M. Sarkozy. The allegations turned out to be a crude forgery.The only part of this that is truly shocking is that they still have not raided Villepin's office and have only suggested that the raid is coming within a few days. The rumors of Villepin's involvement in the offshore bank information have been there for a long time so why are they are giving him a heads up and why has it not already happened? Hmmmmm.
