The Clearstream affair was a political scandal in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

in the run-up to the 2007 presidential election. The name refers to the

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

bank Clearstream Banking S.A, now wholly owned by

Deutsche Börse Deutsche Börse AG () or the Deutsche Börse Group, is a German company offering marketplace organizing for the trading of shares and other securities. It is also a transaction services provider. It gives companies and investors access to gl ...

, which was alleged to have aided many prominent French politicians and companies in evading taxes. It was also suggested that Clearstream might have helped French individuals and companies to

launder money Money laundering is the process of concealing the origin of money, obtained from illicit activities such as drug trafficking, corruption, embezzlement or gambling, by converting it into a legitimate source. It is a crime in many jurisdictions ...

arising from bribes surrounding the 1991 sale of six s to

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

(see

Taiwan frigate scandal The Taiwan frigate scandal, or the Lafayette scandal, was a political scandal in Taiwan and France. History In 1998, former French foreign minister Roland Dumas alleged that a US$500 million commission was paid by Thomson-CSF (now Thales) to Fr ...

). Clearstream denied the allegations.

Beginning of the affair

A list of accounts supposedly held by French individuals at Clearstream was sent anonymously to investigating magistrate

Renaud van Ruymbeke Renaud van Ruymbeke (born 19 August 1952) is an investigative magistrate, well known for specializing in political and financial corruption cases. He investigated the French-Taiwan Frigates Affair, which was related to the Clearstream, and the ...

on four occasions between May and October 2004. At that time, van Ruymbeke was investigating possible bribes in the 1991 frigate sale. The lists quickly proved to be false, and several of the people named on them pressed charges for "false denunciation".

Political impact

Among those pressing charges was prominent French politician

Nicolas Sarkozy Nicolas Paul Stéphane Sarközy de Nagy-Bocsa (; ; born 28 January 1955) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2007 to 2012. Born in Paris, he is of Hungarian, Greek Jewish, and French origin. Mayor of Neuilly-sur-Se ...

, who was preparing his (ultimately successful) campaign for the

presidency A presidency is an administration or the executive, the collective administrative and governmental entity that exists around an office of president of a state or nation. Although often the executive branch of government, and often personified b ...

.. Sarkozy's main political rival on the right-wing of French politics at the time was Interior Minister

Dominique de Villepin Dominique Marie François René Galouzeau de Villepin (; born 14 November 1953) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 31 May 2005 to 17 May 2007 under President Jacques Chirac. In his career working at the Minist ...

, who became

Prime Minister of France The prime minister of France (french: link=no, Premier ministre français), officially the prime minister of the French Republic, is the head of government of the French Republic and the leader of the Council of Ministers. The prime minister ...

in 2005. It later transpired that De Villepin had known about the existence of the lists since at least January 2004. As Interior Minister, he would also have known that French secret services considered the lists to be

forgeries Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud anyone (other than themself). Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbid ...

. He did not, however, pass this information on to Judge Van Ruymbeke. De Villepin was indicted on charges of complicity to false denunciation on 18 November 2008, and tried at the Paris Correctional Court in September and October 2009. He was acquitted of the charges on 28 January 2010. Three co-defendants were convicted for their roles in the affair, while a fifth person was acquitted.

In popular culture

In 2014 Vincent Garenq directed a film about the event, ''

The Clearstream Affair ''The Clearstream Affair'' (French title: ''L'Enquête'') is a 2014 thriller film directed by Vincent Garenq, based on the Clearstream scandal in 2001. Cast * Gilles Lellouche as Denis Robert * Charles Berling as Judge Renaud Van Ruymbeke * ...

'' (French title: ''L'Enquête'').

References

{{reflist Contemporary French history Politics of France Political scandals in France 2007 in France