Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy Is Detained in Campaign Financing Probe

Nicolas Sarkozy, the former French president, has been arrested over allegations that Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the late Libyan despot, illegally funded his 2007 election campaign.

He is being held at the Nanterre police station west of Paris while the questioning by French magistrates takes place, according to The Associated Press, quoting unnamed officials familiar with the case.

A former top aide of Sarkozy’s, former minister Brice Hortefeux, was reportedly questioned Tuesday but not detained.

Sarkozy has dismissed claims he was the recipient of any illicit funds.

Sources close to the inquiry say it was expanded in January to include suspected “illegal campaign financing”, after police issued a report indicating large amounts of cash spending by Sarkozy’s team during the 2007 campaign. We financed his campaign and we have the proof …

Claude Gueant: As former minister of the interior and chief of staff, Gueant was Sarkozy’s right-hand man.

The latest allegations only intensify public scrutiny of Sarkozy, who is already set to stand trial in a separate case concerning allegations that his unsuccessful 2012 re-election campaign also received illegal funding. Each time he carried a suitcase containing €1.5m to €2m in €200 and €500 notes, he claimed, saying he was given the money by Gaddafi’s military intelligence chief.

The newspaper suggests that the decision to put the former French president in custody points to further evidence having been gathered by judges.

A host of legal troubles failed to deter Sarkozy’s comeback bid in 2016.

Shortly after his second divorce Sarkozy started a new relationship with Carla Runi, an Italian singer and songwriter.

Sarkozy was also the first French president to divorce, remarry and have a child – his fourth – while in office.

Police have previously questioned Sarkozy in the case and he has denied wrongdoing. The allegations first broke into public view in 2011, days before North Atlantic Treaty Organisation countries launched a bombing campaign championed by Mr. Sarkozy to support rebels fighting Gadhafi’s government.

The investigation centres on claims by former members of the Libyan regime. “If he had financed it I wouldn’t be very thankful”, Mr. Sarkozy said.

Sarkozy was first taken into custody on Tuesday morning and grilled for 15 hours before being allowed to leave for the night before the questioning resumed on Wednesday morning.