Karachi case: no appeal from the general prosecutor's office against Balladur's release

The General Prosecutor's Office of the Court of Cassation told AFP on Tuesday that he will not appeal against the release of former Prime Minister Édouard Balladur in the financial aspect of the Karachi affair.

Read also: Karachi case: Édouard Balladur released, François Léotard sentenced to two years in prison

Édouard Balladur, 91, was released on March 4 by the Court of Justice of the Republic (CJR), which judged him for "

 " and "

 " of abuse of corporate assets, more than twenty-five years after his unsuccessful presidential campaign of 1995. The general prosecutor's office had requested against Balladur a year of suspended imprisonment and a 50,000 euros fine, considering that he had participated in the establishment of a system of illegal retrocommissions paid on the sidelines of arms contracts in order to partly finance his presidential campaign.

The CJR considered that "

 " of a participation of the former prime minister in the retrocommissions system was not "

 " and that a "

 " of the funds which had replenished his campaign account was not. not established, pronouncing consequently its release.

The judgments of this controversial court, the only one empowered to try members of the government for offenses committed during their mandate, are not subject to appeal, only a cassation appeal is possible.

"

 ", explained the general prosecutor to AFP.

Judged alongside Édouard Balladur, his former Minister of Defense François Léotard had announced that he "

 " after his sentence to two years in prison and a 100,000 euros fine for "

 " with misuse of corporate assets.

François Léotard "

 ", confirmed the general prosecutor's office.

To read also: Édouard Balladur: "Let us not aggravate the traditional defect of French society, the rejection of realities"

Suspicions of secret financing of the presidential campaign of Édouard Balladur had emerged in 2010, thanks to the investigation into an attack committed in 2002 in Karachi (Pakistan) in which eleven French employees of the Naval Construction Directorate (DCN) had died.

In the non-governmental aspect of the same case, several former relatives of Édouard Balladur and François Léotard were heavily condemned in June 2020 by the Paris Criminal Court.

They appealed.