FRENCH EX-PREZ SARKOZY HELD FOR QUESTIONING IN ‘INFLUENCE-PEDDLING’ CASE

NANTERRE: For mer French President Nicolas Sarkozy was held for questioning on Tuesday over suspicions he used his influence to secure leaked details of an inquiry into alleged irregularities in his 2007 election campaign.

It was the first time a former French head of state has been held in police custody and is the latest blow to Sarkozy’s hopes of a come-back after his 2012 election defeat by Socialist rival Francois Hollande. The conservative politician denies all wrongdoing in a string of investigations involving him.

Sarkozy arrived early on Tuesday to be quizzed by investigators at their offices in Nanterre, west of Paris, after his lawyer was also held for questioning on Monday.

Asked about the matter, government spokesman Stephane Le Foll said Sarkozy was “subject to justice like everyone else.”

Under French law, influencepeddling can be punished by up to 5 years in prison and a fine of 500,000 euros ($682,000). Sarkozy lost presidential immunity from legal prosecution a month after he left office in June 2012.

Allies rushed to his support. “Never has any former president been the victim of such treatment, such an outburst of hatred,” Christian Estrosi, the mayor of the southern city of Nice and a close Sarkozy ally, said on Twitter.

The case is one of six legal cases involving Sarkozy either directly or indirectly, includ- ing more recent allegations of irregularities in his unsuccessful 2012 election campaign.

The current questioning relates to suspicions he used his influence to get information on an investigation into funding irregularities in his victorious 2007 election campaign. Sarkozy can be held in custody for up to 48 hours. One cloud was lifted off Sarkozy’s future last October when a court dropped inquiries into whether he had exploited the mental frailty of France’s richest woman, L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, to fund that campaign.