Cleared Trichet set for ECB post

Bank of France governor Jean-Claude Trichet has been acquitted on charges of false accounting, clearing the way for him to become the next president of the European Central Bank.

The French government said after the trial that it will "reaffirm its backing for Jean-Claude Trichet as the next president of the European Central Bank" at an upcoming EU summit in Greece.

If accepted by the other EU states, Trichet will succeed the current ECB President Wim Duisenberg in July under what French officials say is an agreement reached in 1998.

Trichet had been accused of overlooking falsified financial reports concerning Credit Lyonnais in the early 1990s, as the then state-owned bank plunged toward collapse.

His eight co-defendants were also cleared by a Parisian criminal court.

He denied all charges against him, which date back to the early 1990's, when he was treasury director at the French finance ministry with responsibility for state-owned enterprises.

State prosecutors had recommended that the 60-year-old to be given a suspended sentence of "at least" 10 months.