FRANCE/GERMANY: BANK OF FRANCE CHIEF JEAN-CLAUDE TRICHET WAS ACQUITTED IN A BANKING SCANDAL TRIAL

Record ID: 566263

  • 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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