Sarkozy questioned in police custody

Former president Nicolas Sarkozy is being questioned in police custody today over claims that his 2007 election victory was funded with millions from then Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

He is facing investigating judges with his former interior minister, MEP Brice Hortefeux, also being questioned, but not in custody.

Mr Sarkozy is being held in the police judiciaire offices in western Paris suburb Nanterre and can be held for 48 hours. It is the first time he has been formally questioned in relation to the inquiry which was opened in 2013.

There have been claims that Sarkozy’s campaign received €50million in funds from Gaddafi – more than twice the legal campaign funding limit of €21m – after a 2012 report by news website Mediapart.

Le Monde reports today that the OCLCIFF anti-corruption agency, which is holding Mr Sarkozy, had delivered a report to judges citing many witnesses regarding money circulating in Mr Sarkozy’s election campaign.

Another former Sarkozy interior minister, Claude Guéant, is under formal investigation for money laundering and tax fraud over a €500,000 bank transfer that he said was the proceeds of the sale of paintings.

Mr Sarkozy has denied wrongdoing and said in his La France pour la Vie book that he was victim of a false “presumption of guilt” in the Gaddafi case.