More than 25 years after the unsuccessful presidential campaign of Édouard Balladur, the Court of Justice of the Republic delivers its decision Thursday, March 4 on accusations of hidden financing targeting the former Prime Minister and his former Minister of Defense François Léotard, in one part of the Karachi case.
The President of the Court, Dominique Pauthe, is due to begin reading his judgment at 11 a.m.
The controversial court, the CJR, is the only one empowered to try members of the government for offenses committed in the exercise of their functions.
Read also: Karachi case: the former Minister of Defense François Léotard indicted
The prosecution requested on February 2 a year of suspended prison sentence and a 50,000 euros fine against Édouard Balladur, tried at 91 for "complicity" and "concealment" of abuse of corporate assets.
A two-year suspended prison sentence and 100,000 euros fine was requested against François Léotard, 78, prosecuted for "complicity".
In this quarter-century-old dossier, the former Prime Minister is accused of having partly financed his 1995 electoral campaign via illegal retrocommissions, paid on the sidelines of major armament contracts.
The
"gross charges"
based on the
"theories delusional"
have lampooned lawyers Edouard Balladur, who was absent during the closing arguments of the defense.
For the Attorney General François Molins, the former tenant of Matignon (1993-1995) knew
"the fraudulent origin"
of the funds which partly fed his campaign account.
Despite the
"gravity of the facts"
, the prosecution asked the Court to take into account the time elapsed and the age of the defendants.
Read also: Karachi case: 5 questions to understand
Édouard Balladur and François Léotard are accused of having imposed on two state-owned entities - which negotiated the sale of submarines and frigates to Saudi Arabia and Pakistan - a network of
“useless”
intermediaries
on the commissions
"Pharaonic"
, the armament contracts then being almost finalized.
According to the prosecution, a portion of some
"550 million francs"
(or "117 million euros") actually paid to this network partially fed into the campaign account of candidate Balladur, then engaged in a fratricidal war on the right. with Jacques Chirac.
At the heart of the file is a cash deposit of 10.25 million francs (1.5 million euros) without proof of the candidate's account - in deficit - three days after his defeat in the first round.
"Archi, completely prescribed" facts
Édouard Balladur has always said that these funds came from donations from activists and the sale of gadgets at public meetings.
For the prosecution, there is a
"link"
between this sum and the cash withdrawn in Geneva a few days earlier by
"useless"
intermediaries
.
Of
"assumptions"
without
"evidence"
, the
"rumors"
, estimated the lawyers Edouard Balladur and Francois Leotard, who pleaded acquittal of the accused.
Read also: From the attack in Karachi to "Karachigate"
In front of the Court, the latter firmly denied any infringement.
“I feel perfectly at ease”
, launched Édouard Balladur during his questioning, insisting at length on the fact that his campaign account had been
“expressly validated”
by the Constitutional Council in October 1995. For his supporters, this decision is authentic and the facts alleged against Édouard Balladur are therefore
“archi, completely prescribed”
.
The trial of Édouard Balladur and François Léotard opened on January 19, seven months after severe convictions in the non-governmental aspect of the same case against six protagonists, including the businessman Ziad Takieddine and former relatives of the two ministers.
All have appealed.
As for the judgments of the CJR, they are not subject to appeal, only an appeal in cassation being possible.
Since its creation in 1993, the Court has issued three acquittals, two exemptions from the sentence and three suspended sentences.
Read also: Karachi case: former prime minister Édouard Balladur indicted
Suspicions of secret financing of the Balladur campaign did not emerge until 2010, during the investigation into the Karachi attack on May 8, 2002, which claimed the lives of eleven French people working on the construction of sub- sailors.
Still in progress, the investigation into this attack initially focused on al-Qaida, then explored the one - not confirmed to date - of reprisals after the end of the payment of commissions, once Jacques Chirac was elected president.