FRANCE/GERMANY: BANK OF FRANCE CHIEF JEAN-CLAUDE TRICHET WAS ACQUITTED IN A BANKING SCANDAL TRIAL
Record ID:
566263
FRANCE/GERMANY: BANK OF FRANCE CHIEF JEAN-CLAUDE TRICHET WAS ACQUITTED IN A BANKING SCANDAL TRIAL
- Title: FRANCE/GERMANY: BANK OF FRANCE CHIEF JEAN-CLAUDE TRICHET WAS ACQUITTED IN A BANKING SCANDAL TRIAL
- Date: 18th June 2003
- Summary: (W5) PARIS, FRANCE (JUNE 18, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. SLV EXTERIOR OF JUSTICE PALACE 0.05 2. MCU JOURNALIST READING NEWSPAPER 0.08 3. SV OFFICIALS LEAVING COURT ROOM 0.14 4. PAN SECURITY AND JOURNALISTS OUTSIDE COURT ROOM 0.18 5. MCU LAWYER ENTERING COURT ROOM 0.25 6. SV OF JOURNALISTS FILMING OUTSIDE COURT ROOM 0.29 7. SV/MCU OFFICIALS WALKING FROM COURT ROOM (2 SHOTS) 0.45 8. SV JOURNALISTS SURROUNDING JEAN-CLAUDE TRICHET 0.48 9. MCU (English) JEAN-CLAUDE TRICHET SAYING: "I just said a moment ago that 3 years and 2 months ago I issued a communiqué in which I said that my colleagues and myself tried to do our best to redress a situation under the instructions of the government - a situation that was a very difficult, as you know, and I said nothing else at the time. But I have full confidence in the justice. You just have the result of the meditation of the judges. I am happy, that's all that I have to say. Now I have no other comments. Thank you very much." 1.39 10. SV SECURITY AND JOURNALISTS 1.43 11. LV JEAN CLAUDE TRICHET GOING DOWN STEPS SURROUNDED BY SECURITY 2.03 (W5) FRANKFURT, GERMANY (JUNE 18, 2003) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 12. PAN EXTERIOR EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK (ECB) HEADQUARTERS 2.12 13. CU EUROPEAN UNION FLAGS 2.15 14. SLV PEOPLE LEAVING ECB HEADQUARTERS 2.22 (W5) FRANKFURT, GERMANY (FILE) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 15. LAS EXTERIOR EUROPEAN CENTRAL BANK (ECB) HEADQUARTERS 2.25 16. SV JEAN-CLAUDE TRICHET, BANK OF FRANCE GOVERNOR, ARRIVING AND WALKING THROUGH LOBBY PULLING A SUITCASE 2.37 17. SV WIM DUISENBERG, ECB PRESIDENT, SITTING DOWN 2.46 18. CLOSE-UP OF DUISENBERG 2.52 19. MCU TRICHET PUTTING ON GLASSES 3.01 20. LV OF MEETING 3.04 (W5) FRANKFURT, GERMANY (FILE: NOVEMBER 11, 1997) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 21. MCU TRICHET AND DUISENBERG POSING FOR CAMERAS AT EUROPEAN BANKING CONGRESS 3.10 22. SV DELEGATES SEATED 3.13 23. SV DUISENBERG AND TRICHET SEATED NEXT TO EACH OTHER 3.17 24. MCU DUISENBERG AND TRICHET 3.25 25. MCU TRICHET SPEAKING, DUISENBERG LISTENING 3.31 26. LV OF HALL 3.35 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 3rd July 2003 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: PARIS, FRANCE / FRANKFURT, GERMANY
- City:
- Country: France Germany
- Reuters ID: LVA6BZ1E15AN068957UCM9W2VJ3B
- Story Text: The aquittal in a banking scandal trial of Bank of
France chief Jean-Claude Trichet has paved his way to succeed
Wim Duisenberg as next European Central Bank (ECB) president.
Bank of France chief Jean-Claude Trichet was acquitted
in a banking scandal trial on Wednesday (18 June), removing a
major obstacle to his succeeding Wim Duisenberg as president
of the European Central Bank.
Trichet had been charged with complicity in publication of
misleading accounts at Credit Lyonnais in the early 1990s,
when it was his job as head of the government treasury
department to keep tabs on state-owned groups, as Lyonnais was
at the time.
Commentators say an acquittal clears the way for EU
leaders, who meet in Greece at the end of this week, to
confirm Trichet rapidly as next ECB president, the euro zone's
equivalent of U.S. Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan.
A degree of uncertainty remains as long as there is still
the possibility of appeals triggering a further phase of court
proceedings.
Nine people in all were tried in the Lyonnais case.
Trichet himself declined on Wednesday to comment on his
chances of being the next head of the European Central Bank
after his acquittal in a fraud trial, saying that was a matter
for EU leaders.
"Three years and two months months ago I issued a
communiqué in which I said that my colleagues and myself tried
to do our best to redress a situation under the instructions
of the government - a situation that was a very difficult, as
you know, and I said nothing else at the time", he told
reporters minutes after a Paris judge acquitted him of charges
of complicity in misleading accounts at the bank Credit
Lyonnais a decade ago.
He added: "I have full confidence in the justice. You just
have the meditation of the judges. I am happy, that's all that
I have to say. Now I have no other comments."
Duisenberg originally planned to step down on July 9 on
his 68th birthday, but recently agreed to stay on at the
request of European governments until Trichet's fate in the
French courts became clear.
French President Jacques Chirac fought tooth-and-nail in
May 1998 to get Trichet appointed president of the ECB from
the day it started up as central bank for the entire euro
currency zone but had to settle for a deal where Duisenberg
got first stab.
Trichet's prospects took a turn for the worse in 2000 when
he was placed under official investigation over allegations
that the financial losses of Lyonnais were deliberately
understated when the then state-owned bank went close to
collapse.
Trichet had been charged with complicity in publication of
misleading accounts at Credit Lyonnais in the early 1990s,
when it was his job as head of the Finance Ministry's treasury
department to keep tabs on state-owned groups, as Lyonnais was
at the time.
After years of inquiry and a six-week trial into
allegations of misleading accounting at Credit Lyonnais bank a
decade ago, judge Olivier Perusset announced his verdict on
Trichet and eight other defendants.
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