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Former French President Sarkozy Held for Questioning Former French President Sarkozy Held for Questioning
(about 7 hours later)
PARIS — Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president of France, was detained for questioning by French anticorruption investigators on Tuesday as part of an inquiry into breach of judicial secrecy and influence peddling, a senior prosecutor said. PARIS — Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president of France, was detained on Tuesday for questioning by French anticorruption investigators, a serious new turn in a blossoming criminal inquiry that threatens his hopes of a political comeback.
Éliane Houlette, the national prosecutor in charge of financial corruption cases, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that Mr. Sarkozy had been detained for questioning at 8 a.m. She did not provide further details. Mr. Sarkozy, a conservative who was president from 2007 to 2012, has not been charged, but he can be held under French law for up to 48 hours to answer questions from prosecutors. Éliane Houlette, the national prosecutor in charge of financial corruption cases, said in a telephone interview that Mr. Sarkozy, 59, was detained for questioning at 8 a.m. She did not provide further details.
The anticorruption police are trying to establish whether Mr. Sarkozy, with the help of his lawyer Thierry Herzog, tried to obtain information from a well-placed magistrate, Gilbert Azibert, about an investigation that ensnared the former president. In the past, Mr. Sarkozy has denied any wrongdoing and characterized the investigation as politically motivated. An aide to Mr. Sarkozy declined to comment on Tuesday.
Under French criminal law, influence peddling, or abuse of power in seeking to gain a favorable decision from a public authority or administration, is punishable by five years in prison and a fine of as much as 500,000 euros, or $684,000. Depending on what investigators decide, Mr. Sarkozy can be released, be put under formal investigation as a suspect or be made a witness in the case, legal experts said.
Mr. Sarkozy, who led France’s most prominent conservative party, was questioned a day after investigators questioned Mr. Herzog, Mr. Azibert and another magistrate. Under French law, the subject of an investigation can be arrested and questioned for up to 24 hours, with a possible extension of another day, without being formally charged with a crime. The authorities are trying to establish whether Mr. Sarkozy, with the help of his lawyer, Thierry Herzog, tried to obtain information from a well-placed judge, Gilbert Azibert, about investigations ensnaring the former president, including an inquiry into the financing of his 2007 election campaign.
A series of court cases and judicial investigations have followed Mr. Sarkozy since he left office in 2012, and expectations that he could run again for the French presidency in 2017 have served to intensify interest in the man once called “President Bling Bling” because of his flamboyant personal style. Global interest in Mr. Sarkozy has also been fanned by his glamorous wife, the singer and model Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. They are also reportedly investigating whether Mr. Sarkozy, Mr. Herzog and Judge Azibert plotted to reward the judge’s help in the case with a post in Monte Carlo. Mr. Sarkozy was detained a day after investigators questioned Mr. Herzog and two judges, including Judge Azibert.
In March, the daily newspaper Le Monde reported on an operation in which the authorities had for a year been tapping the phones of Mr. Sarkozy, Mr. Herzog and two of Mr. Sarkozy’s former ministers. While not illegal, the spying on a former president was a highly unusual tactic in a country where the office of the presidency is revered. A series of court cases and criminal investigations have followed Mr. Sarkozy since he left office in 2012, and expectations that he could run again for the presidency in 2017 have served to intensify interest in the man once called President Bling Bling because of his flamboyant personal style. Global interest in Mr. Sarkozy, who lost his re-election bid two years ago, has also been fanned by his wife, the singer and model Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
Mr. Sarkozy appears to be the first former president to have had his private conversations monitored by investigators. The case has spurred lurid headlines and called into question whether the surveillance of Mr. Herzog’s phone was a breach of attorney-client privilege. In March, the French daily newspaper Le Monde reported on an operation in which the authorities had for a year been tapping the phones of Mr. Sarkozy, Mr. Herzog and two of Mr. Sarkozy’s former ministers. The phone-tapping was widely viewed as an unusually aggressive tactic in a country where the office of the presidency is revered as the embodiment of the nation.
The latest twist in the case could be devastating for Mr. Sarkozy’s hopes of a political comeback. And while the scandal has been damaging for Mr. Sarkozy and the right, it has also proved embarrassing for the Socialist government of President François Hollande, which initially sought to distance itself from the questionable act of tapping a former president’s phone. But government ministers, including the justice minister, Christiane Taubira, admitted they were informed of the phone tapping as early as February. Under French criminal law, influence-peddling, or abuse of power in seeking to gain a favorable decision from a public authority or administration, is punishable by five years in prison and a fine of as much as 500,000 euros, or $683,000. Other former French presidents have had run-ins with the law, including Jacques Chirac, who in late 2011 was given a suspended sentence after being convicted of embezzlement and misusing public funds when he was mayor of Paris.
Among the accusations against Mr. Sarkozy is that in 2007 his presidential campaign received up to 50 million euros, or about $68 million, in illegal funds from Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya. But Mr. Sarkozy is the first former president in the history of the country to be detained and questioned in police custody.
Mr. Sarkozy has consistently denied any allegations of impropriety, and has said he received no financial support from Libya. He has insisted that the accusations — made by former allies of Mr. Qaddafi and his sons — are politically motivated and derive from his role in orchestrating the international military intervention in Libya in 2011 that ultimately led to Mr. Qaddafi’s ouster. Mr. Sarkozy also appears to be the first former president whose private conversations were monitored by investigators. The case has spurred lurid headlines and called into question whether the tapping of Mr. Herzog’s phone was a breach of attorney-client privilege.
Suspicions have also focused on the magistrate, Mr. Azibert, who is believed to have fed information to Mr. Sarkozy on the direction of the judicial proceedings against him. According to Le Monde, recorded conversations between the two men included a discussion of whether Mr. Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign received improper donations from Liliane Bettencourt, the 91 year-old L’Oréal heiress and France’s richest woman. Evidence in that case has been used in another in which Mr. Sarkozy has come under suspicion with regard to a $550 million state payout in 2008 to Bernard Tapie, a businessman with a murky past. The latest twist in the case could be devastating for Mr. Sarkozy’s hopes of a political comeback. And while the scandal has been damaging for Mr. Sarkozy and the right, it has also proved embarrassing for President François Hollande’s Socialist government, which initially sought to distance itself from the decision to turn to phone-tapping in the case. Government ministers, including the justice minister, Christiane Taubira, later acknowledged they were informed of the phone-tapping as early as February of this year.
An investigation into breach of judicial secrecy and influence-peddling was opened amid suspicions that Mr. Azibert was Mr. Sarkozy’s informant, according to Le Monde and government documents. In return for keeping the former president briefed, the French media reported, Mr. Azibert suggested to Mr. Sarkozy that he would appreciate obtaining a post in the seaside principality of Monaco. The developments came at a time of upheaval in French politics, with the left and the right reeling from their own problems and the far-right party National Front celebrating a strong showing in this spring’s European parliamentary elections. Mr. Hollande’s government is weighed down by a sluggish economy, ideological dissension within its ranks and Mr. Hollande’s own record-low approval ratings. Mr. Sarkozy’s conservative party is in disarray as well, suffering from a number of scandals and the lack of a clear leader.
The Élysée, the office of the French president; Véronique Waché, the chief spokeswoman for Mr. Sarkozy; and a spokesman for Mr. Sarkozy’s UMP party all declined to comment. On Tuesday, some of Mr. Sarkozy’s supporters lashed out against what they termed the humiliating detention of a former president and accused the Socialist government of pushing the case in a bid to upend Mr. Sarkozy’s political ambitions. Jean-François Copé, former head of Mr. Sarkozy’s party, the Union for a Popular Movement, wrote on Twitter that Mr. Sarkozy was the victim of a “hate campaign.”
Among the accusations against Mr. Sarkozy is that in 2007 his presidential campaign received up to ¤50 million, or about $68 million, in illegal funds from Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi, the Libyan leader.
Mr. Sarkozy has consistently denied any allegations of impropriety, and compared those who tapped his phones to the Stasi, the secret police in East Germany. He has said he received no financial support from Libya and has insisted that the accusations — made by former allies of Colonel Qaddafi and his sons — are politically motivated and derive from his role in orchestrating the international military intervention in Libya in 2011 that ultimately led to Colonel Qaddafi’s ouster.
Suspicions have also focused on Judge Azibert, who prosecutors suspect may have fed information to Mr. Sarkozy on the direction of the judicial proceedings against him. According to Le Monde, recorded conversations between the two men included a discussion of whether Mr. Sarkozy’s 2007 campaign received improper donations from Liliane Bettencourt, 91, the L’Oréal heiress and France’s richest woman. Evidence in that case has been used in another case in which Mr. Sarkozy has come under suspicion with regard to a $550 million government payout in 2008 to Bernard Tapie, a businessman with a murky past.
The investigation into breach of judicial secrecy and influence-peddling was opened amid suspicions that Judge Azibert was Mr. Sarkozy’s informant, according to Le Monde and government documents. In return for keeping the former president briefed, the French media reported, Judge Azibert suggested to Mr. Sarkozy that he would appreciate obtaining a post in Monaco.