Suspect in Sarkozy probe arrested

■ UK police detain a French bizman as part of the investigation

London, Jan 9: British police have detained a French businessman as part of a long- running investigation into suspected Libyan financing of expresident Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign, officials said on Monday.

Alexandre Djouhri, the subject of a European arrest warrant, was apprehended at Heathrow Airport on Sunday and remanded in custody after a hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday.

A spokesman for London’s Metropolitan Police confirmed Djouhri’s arrest “under a European arrest warrant”. “The warrant was issued by French authorities for offences of fraud and money laundering,” the spokesman added.

A court official said Djouhri would remain in custody at least until another court appearance on Wednesday, at which “he could be released on bail or could be kept in prison” pending a formal extradition hearing.

Djouhri, a 58- year- old Swiss resident, has been a focus of the inquiry opened in 2013 by judges investigating claims by former Libyan ruler Moamer Kadhafi and his son Seif al- Islam that they provided funds for Sarkozy’s election effort.

But Djouhri, well known among France’s rightwing political establishment and a close associate of Sarkozy, has refused to respond to summons for questioning in Paris.

Reported in the French media as being close to executives of the French environmental services group Vivendi Environnement, now called Veolia, he is often described as a go- between for deals involving water systems, trash collection and oil. His lawyer did not respond to requests for comment. In 2016, the former president’s links with Kadhafi came under heightened scrutiny after another businessman, Ziad Takieddine, admitted delivering five million euros ($ 6 million) from the Libyan leader for Sarkozy’s first presidential bid.