Former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin is expected to run in next year's presidential election. He is pictured on April 4, 2025.Joel Saget/AFP via Getty Images

French presidential hopeful de Villepin probed over gifts received as foreign minister – POLITICO

by · POLITICO

PARIS — Dominique de Villepin, a former French prime minister expected to run in next year’s presidential election, is being investigated over gifts he received while serving as foreign minister, the country’s top financial prosecutor said Wednesday.

“A preliminary investigation … into charges of receiving stolen property, embezzlement of public funds and all related offenses” has been opened, the prosecutor, Pascal Prache, said in a statement.

According to Prache, the investigation concerns two gifts allegedly received by de Villepin between 2002 and 2004, during his tenure as France’s top diplomat. De Villepin is best known for his impassioned 2003 speech at the United Nations speaking out against military intervention in Iraq ahead of the United States’ invasion.