A Paris criminal court has acquitted Bank of France governor Jean-Claude Trichet on charges of false accounting, clearing the way for him to become the next president of the European Central Bank.
Trichet, 60, and his eight co-defendants were accused of overlooking falsified financial reports concerning Credit Lyonnais in the early 1990s, as the then state-owned bank plunged toward collapse.
The court went against the recommendation of state prosecutors, who had asked for Trichet to be given a suspended sentence of at least 10 months.
The verdict clears the way for Trichet to succeed Wim Duisenberg as the next ECB president, a job he is meant to assume in July under what French officials say is an agreement reached in 1998 among the 12 euro zone members. Trichet said he was 'moved' by the court's decision.
He had denied all charges against him, which date back to 1991, 1992 and early 1993 when he was treasury director at the French finance ministry with responsibility for state-owned enterprises like Credit Lyonnais.
The Bank of France governor was placed under judicial investigation in April 2000 on suspicion of 'spreading false information on the market and presenting and publishing inexact accounts' at Credit Lyonnais.
* The French government will reaffirm its backing for Jean-Claude Trichet as the next president of the European Central Bank at an upcoming EU summit in Salonika, Greece, the finance ministry said today.
Earlier in Brussels, a source with the EU's Greek presidency said the ECB succession was not on the agenda for a three-day EU summit near Salonika starting on Thursday. But he added that 'contacts are taking place on this subject between the EU presidency and France.'
