Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was on Tuesday arrested and questioned by magistrates looking into allegations of Libyan funding for his 2007 election campaign.
NAN reports that an official in the French judiciary who did want to be named made this known.
Sarkozy’s close ally and former minister, Brice Hortefeux, was also questioned by the police this morning in relation to the Libya investigation, another source close to the probe revealed.
The former president’s lawyer could not be reached immediately for comment.
Recall that France opened a judicial inquiry in 2013 into allegations that Sarkozy’s successful 2007 election bid benefited from illicit funds from late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.
Sarkozy, who served as president from 2007 to 2012, has always denied receiving any illicit campaign funding and has dismissed the Libyan allegations as “grotesque”.
In January a French businessman suspected by investigators to be channeling money from Gaddafi to finance Sarkozy’s campaign was arrested in Britain and granted bail after he appeared in a London court.
Sarkozy has already been ordered to stand trial in a separate matter concerning financing of his failed re-election campaign in 2012, when he was defeated by Francois Hollande.
