Former Vivendi boss Jean-Marie Messier went on trial yesterday to face accusations that he engaged in corporate fraud as he transformed the French water utility into a global media giant.

He is accused of issuing false or misleading financial statements, manipulating share prices and misusing corporate assets in 2000-2002 when the firm went on a massive takeover spree. Messier, who had to leave Vivendi Universal in July 2002 after the company lost €13.6 billion, faces up to five years in prison and heavy fines if found guilty.

Five other people are on trial alongside Messier on related charges in a case expected to last about four weeks.

They include Edgar Bronfman Jr, the head of Warner Music Group and a former Vivendi vice-chairman, who will be tried for insider trading following Vivendi's purchase of the media assets of Seagram, the Canadian group he inherited.

In January a US jury ruled that Vivendi recklessly misled investors about the company's finances, opening the door to a potential multibillion dollar payout to shareholders.

But Messier was cleared along with his chief financial officer Guillaume Hannezo, who is also on trial in Paris this week, by a jury which had deliberated over two weeks in the shareholder lawsuit.

Vivendi and Messier had been accused of making false statements about company finances between 2000 and 2002, before a collapse of the group's share price in the lawsuit charging "recklessly misleading communication."

The class-action lawsuit brought in US federal court in 2002 had sought as much as $11.5 billion to compensate shareholders.