Legal woes pile up for former French PM

PARIS, July 10 (Reuters) Former French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said today he faced official investigation over allegations he tried to smear Nicolas Sarkozy and wreck his rival's presidential ambitions.

French judges searched Villepin's house and offices last week as part of a probe into accusations that he used forged documents in a failed bid to destroy Sarkozy's reputation three years before he was elected president.

''Dominique de Villepin has just discovered that he has been summoned (for questioning) at the end of July by judges ... who are considering placing him under official investigation,'' the former prime minister said in a statement.

In France, being placed under formal investigation by judges often leads to a trial, but does not imply guilt.

Villepin and Sarkozy were fierce political rivals within the conservative camp in the run up to the 2007 elections, with both men battling to replace the outgoing president, Jacques Chirac, as leader of the right.

Sarkozy ultimately triumphed, using the smear scandal to portray himself as a victim of high-level skulduggery.

The scandal began in 2004 when anonymous letters were sent to an examining magistrate alleging Sarkozy and a group of other senior politicians held accounts in Clearstream, a financial clearing house in Luxembourg.

The money was said to be linked to the bribe-ridden sale of frigates to Taiwan in 1991, but the accounts proved bogus.

ANONYMOUS TIP-OFF Deleted files retrieved last week from the computer of an intelligence officer suggested Villepin himself encouraged the anonymous tip-off to the magistrate, judicial sources said.

This could lay him open to charges of complicity in false accusations, a source said.

Villepin was an ordinary minister at the time the scandal broke and he has said he was simply fulfilling his duties to check up on rumours of wrongdoing by a cabinet colleague.

''Dominique de Villepin reaffirms at this point in time that he acted strictly in accordance with his duties as foreign affairs minister and (then) interior minister and denies any criminal involvement in this case,'' his statement said.

This line of defence would allow Villepin to push for his case be followed by a special court for ministers and that different magistrates be appointed to pursue the investigation.

A judicial source said he would be questioned on July 27. He had already faced 17 hours of questioning last December.

Sarkozy says he was not informed about the allegations until months later and knew nothing about Villepin's investigation, despite the fact they were serving in the same government.

He lodged an official complaint with magistrates last year, saying he had been the victim of a smear campaign, but did not give any names in his deposition.

A second senior politician also risks being hurt by fallout from the long-running saga.

Legal sources say Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie is likely to be questioned again in the case following fresh allegations that she knew of the alleged plot to snare Sarkozy.

She has denied any wrongdoing.

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