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France's ex-Prime Minister Éduoard Balladur
Photo: THOMAS COEX / AFP
He was accused of having financed his presidential candidacy with black money: France's former Prime Minister Édouard Balladur has now been acquitted in the process of opaque arms deals.
Balladur was France's head of government from 1993 to 1995.
The prosecution had accused him of having diverted some of the funds into his own campaign coffers in French arms deals with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia in the 1990s.
With the supposed black money he had financed his presidential candidacy in 1995, which was ultimately unsuccessful.
The public prosecutor had demanded a year probation and a fine of 50,000 euros for the now 91-year-old.
According to the AFP news agency, however, the Court of Justice of the Republic found in its judgment that there was no evidence that Balladur had knowingly given instructions for payments.
The Court of Justice of the Republic is a special court that only judges the misconduct of members of the government in the exercise of their office.
"I am pleased to note the decision of the Court of Justice of the Republic, which finally recognizes my innocence," the agency quoted Balladur as saying.
He had always denied the allegations.
Defense Minister Léotard has to pay a fine of 100,000 euros
In contrast to Balladur, the judges followed the prosecution's demands from the co-defendant, ex-Defense Minister François Léotard.
He was sentenced to a two-year suspended prison sentence and a fine for aiding and abetting embezzlement of company assets.
In the so-called Karachi affair about the bribery payments, the President Nicolas Sarkozy, who was recently convicted in another trial, was also investigated at times.
Sarkozy was Balladur's former campaign manager.
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fek / AFP / dpa
