Nicolas Sarkozy detained for questioning for alleged corruption

Unprecedented move against a former French president as investigators also question his lawyer and two magistrates

theguardian.com, AFP, Paris, Tuesday 1 July 2014

Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been questioned by
anti-corruption investigators. Photograph: Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images

Nicolas Sarkozy has been detained for questioning as part of a widening corruption inquiry in an unprecedented move against a former French president.

Anti-corruption investigators can hold Sarkozy for questioning for up to 24 hours, with a possible extension of another day.

Sarkozy had turned himself in for questioning a day after investigators detained his lawyer, Thierry Herzog, and two magistrates.

The investigators are seeking to establish if the former president, with the help of Herzog, tried to pervert the course of justice.

They suspect Sarkozy, 59, sought to obtain inside information from one of the magistrates about the progress of another inquiry and that he was tipped off that his mobile phone had been tapped by judges looking into the alleged financing of his 2007 election campaign by former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

The case could prove devastating for Sarkozy's hopes of a political comeback in time for the 2017 presidential campaign.

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