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| Sarkozy Placed Under Formal Investigation in Corruption Case | Sarkozy Placed Under Formal Investigation in Corruption Case |
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| PARIS — Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president of France who is trying to revive his political fortunes, was put under formal investigation on Wednesday in a corruption and influence-peddling case, news agencies reported. | PARIS — Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president of France who is trying to revive his political fortunes, was put under formal investigation on Wednesday in a corruption and influence-peddling case, news agencies reported. |
| The latest twist in a case that has gripped France came a day after Mr. Sarkozy was held for questioning by the police for 15 hours, the French media reported, an unprecedented indignity for a former French president. Mr. Sarkozy, a conservative who led the country from 2007 to 2012, was detained and questioned before being taken to a Paris court to meet with investigators. He was released after midnight, the French media reported. | The latest twist in a case that has gripped France came a day after Mr. Sarkozy was held for questioning by the police for 15 hours, the French media reported, an unprecedented indignity for a former French president. Mr. Sarkozy, a conservative who led the country from 2007 to 2012, was detained and questioned before being taken to a Paris court to meet with investigators. He was released after midnight, the French media reported. |
| The anticorruption authorities in France are looking into whether Mr. Sarkozy, abetted by his lawyer, Thierry Herzog, sought to obtain information from an influential appeals court judge, Gilbert Azibert, about investigations linked to the former president, including an inquiry into the financing of his 2007 election campaign. They are also investigating whether Mr. Sarkozy, Mr. Herzog and Mr. Azibert worked together to reward Mr. Azibert for his help in the case with a post in Monte Carlo. | The anticorruption authorities in France are looking into whether Mr. Sarkozy, abetted by his lawyer, Thierry Herzog, sought to obtain information from an influential appeals court judge, Gilbert Azibert, about investigations linked to the former president, including an inquiry into the financing of his 2007 election campaign. They are also investigating whether Mr. Sarkozy, Mr. Herzog and Mr. Azibert worked together to reward Mr. Azibert for his help in the case with a post in Monte Carlo. |
| Mr. Sarkozy, 59, has denied any wrongdoing and characterized the investigation as a politically motivated smear campaign. Mr. Sarkozy is the first former president in modern France to be detained and questioned in police custody. | |
| The decision to open a formal investigation could lead to a trial, legal experts said, and suggests that investigators believe they have enough evidence against the former president to link him to a crime. | The decision to open a formal investigation could lead to a trial, legal experts said, and suggests that investigators believe they have enough evidence against the former president to link him to a crime. |
| Under French criminal law, a formal investigation calls for the appointment of a judge, who will lead a detailed inquiry that can take months. If the investigative judge in Mr. Sarkozy’s case determines that there is sufficient evidence to charge him, the former president could face trial for influence-peddling and abuse of power. | |
| Abuse of power is punishable under French law by five years in prison and a fine of as much as 500,000 euros, or $684,000. If found guilty, Mr. Sarkozy could also be banned from holding public office, or excluded from running for election for a limited period. | |
| 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. The phone tapping was widely viewed as a highly aggressive move against a former head of state. | |
| Mr. Herzog’s lawyer, Paul-Albert Iweins, challenged the legitimacy of the case because much of the evidence appears to have been acquired via electronic eavesdropping. Critics of the government’s case say that approach violates attorney-client privilege. | |
| “The facts in this case rest on wiretapped conversations whose legality we challenge and which we will strongly fight against,” he was quoted as saying by Libération, a leading French newspaper. | |
| The developments deal a heavy blow to hopes of a political comeback by Mr. Sarkozy, who has been urged by his supporters to run for president in 2017. The case has cast an unwelcome spotlight on the often symbiotic relationship between the close-knit French elite in politics and the judiciary, and it has called into question whether the line between the ex-president and a highly placed judge was crossed. | |
| Mr. Herzog and Mr. Azibert have also been questioned in connection with the case. | Mr. Herzog and Mr. Azibert have also been questioned in connection with the case. |
| Mr. Sarkozy has compared those who have pursued him and wiretapped his phone to the Stasi, the dreaded secret police in communist-era East Germany. While his critics accuse him of abusing his power, Mr. Sarkozy’s defenders say he was merely engaging in the kind of political networking all too common in the cozy world of French politics. | |
| Since he left office in 2012, Mr. Sarkozy has been forced to grapple with a series of court cases. Expectations that he could run again for the French presidency in 2017 have only served to intensify interest in the man once labeled “President Bling Bling” because of his perceived opulent lifestyle. | Since he left office in 2012, Mr. Sarkozy has been forced to grapple with a series of court cases. Expectations that he could run again for the French presidency in 2017 have only served to intensify interest in the man once labeled “President Bling Bling” because of his perceived opulent lifestyle. |
| The latest developments come at a time of widespread disenchantment in French politics, with both the right and left struggling to connect with voters. The far-right National Front performed strongly in recent elections for the European Parliament. President François Hollande’s government is struggling to deal with a sluggish economy as well as political infighting, while the right has been marred by a series of scandals and the absence of a strong leader. | The latest developments come at a time of widespread disenchantment in French politics, with both the right and left struggling to connect with voters. The far-right National Front performed strongly in recent elections for the European Parliament. President François Hollande’s government is struggling to deal with a sluggish economy as well as political infighting, while the right has been marred by a series of scandals and the absence of a strong leader. |
| Some of Mr. Sarkozy’s supporters have lashed out against what they view as an unnecessary and humiliating detention of a former president; the Socialist government has been accused of pursuing the case to thwart Mr. Sarkozy’s political return. | Some of Mr. Sarkozy’s supporters have lashed out against what they view as an unnecessary and humiliating detention of a former president; the Socialist government has been accused of pursuing the case to thwart Mr. Sarkozy’s political return. |
| Although the accusations against Mr. Sarkozy pose a serious threat to his political career, the French have a history of forgiving and forgetting when it comes to the moral and legal transgressions of their political leaders. | |
| Alain Juppé, a former prime minister of France from Mr. Sarkozy’s Union for a Popular Movement, has undergone a remarkable resurrection in French politics after a criminal conviction in 2004 for misusing public funds. He is now one of France’s most popular politicians, touted as a possible presidential candidate and widely admired for his achievements when he was mayor of Bordeaux. Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund whose career has been buffeted by a series of sex scandals, has sought to revive his political career by focusing on his work as a leading international economist. While it remains to be seen whether Mr. Strauss-Kahn will ever hold elective office again, he is often seen on French television discussing the economy, and some French people are wondering whether he would make a better president than the deeply unpopular Mr. Hollande. | |
| “I am dismayed by the nature of the French citizen,” said Jérôme Karsenti, a leading lawyer specializing in corruption. “I am convinced that there is a form of amnesia in this country, with each scandal erasing the memory of the previous one. There is tolerance in the national psychology that politicians are by nature corrupt.” | |
| Mr. Juppé, for his part, has defended Mr. Sarkozy and posted support on Twitter for the embattled ex-president: “His defense will show he is innocent, I hope.” |