Jean-Louis Gregorin, former vice-president of EADS and IT expert Imad Lahoud, the two men accused of faking the Clearstream list of clients to include Nicolas Sarkozy's name, give evidence Wednesday in what has been described as France's 'trial of the decade'.

L'affaire Clearstream has exposed deep rivalries at the very top of French politics, with President Nicolas Sarkozy accusing former Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin of plotting to scuttle his bid for the presidential nomination by linking him to alleged kickbacks from weapons sales to Taiwan in 1991.

Lahoud and Gregorin stand accused of manipulating the Clearstream lists, which allegedly had been stolen from the Luxembourg clearing house Clearstream by trainee auditor Florian Bourges, who gave evidence on Tuesday.

The trial is scheduled to run until October 23 and judges are expected to take several months to reach a verdict after that.