FRANCE: The plot of the Clearstream smear scandal thickened yesterday when Le Monde published excerpts from notes taken by Gen Philippe Rondot, the former intelligence officer and defence ministry official assigned by the prime minister, Dominique de Villepin, to investigate what turned out to be bogus lists of account-holders in a Luxembourg bank.
Gen Rondot's notes make clear that Mr de Villepin and President Jacques Chirac followed his investigation closely, and that elements compromising the interior minister and both men's political rival, Nicolas Sarkozy, were particularly sought after.
"If we appear, the PR (president of the republic) and me, we're finished . . . ", Mr Villepin told Gen Rondot in a July 19th, 2004, meeting. Gen Rondot, who was responsible for intelligence issues in defence minister Michèle Alliot-Marie's cabinet, drafted notes after every meeting between late 2003 and mid-2005, nine of which were attended by Mr de Villepin.
After his retirement last winter, Gen Rondot kept the notes locked in a safe in his home until they were seized by judges investigating the scandal.
Mr Chirac is referred to in the general's notes as PR, Mr de Villepin as D de V and Ms Alliot-Marie as MAM. The notes clearly show Mr Chirac's involvement.
Phrases like "Protect the president" and "Risk: that the PR be hurt" appear repeatedly. On January 21st, 2004, Gen Rondot wrote: "The PR wanted me to deal directly with D de V; only at his level." Nine days later, Gen Rondot noted that the defence minister "took very badly the president's decision that I should handle this operation directly, without accounting to her".
Mr de Villepin denies piloting the investigation in an attempt to destroy Mr Sarkozy. But Mr Sarkozy's name appears often in Gen Rondot's accounts. By the summer of 2004, Gen Rondot had serious doubts about the veracity of the account-holders' lists, which were provided to him by Jean-Louis Gergorin, a friend of Mr de Villepin, who resigned as vice-president of the defence consortium EADS on Wednesday.