Former French president Sarkozy under investigation

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been placed under formal investigation after being held in police custody for questioning over suspected influence-peddling, a prosecutor has said.

Sarkozy had arrived earlier on Tuesday to be quizzed by investigators at their offices in Nanterre, west of Paris.

He was held for questioning for 15 hours over suspicions he used his influence to secure leaked details of an inquiry into alleged irregularities in his 2007 election. 

The investigators are seeking to establish if the former president, with the help of his lawyer Thierry Herzog, attempted 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 probe, 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 leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The case could be devastating for Sarkozy’s hopes of a political comeback in time for the next presidential campaign in 2017.

Sarkozy is alleged to have been helped to victory in 2007 with up to $70 million provided by Gaddafi, and envelopes stuffed with cash from France’s richest woman, L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt.

He dismissed the Gaddafi claims as ridiculous and was cleared last year of taking Bettencourt’s money when she was too frail to know what she was doing.

His campaign treasurer is one of ten people awaiting trial in that case.