France's former president Nicolas Sarkozy has been detained for questioning in connection with a probe into influence-peddling, a judicial source said Tuesday.
Under French law, suspects in criminal cases can be held in custody for up to 48 hours before they must be either charged or released.
Investigators are seeking to establish whether Sarkozy, with the help of his lawyer Thierry Herzog, attempted to pervert the course of justice by seeking to obtain inside information from a magistrate about a probe into alleged misdeeds in the financing of his 2007 election campaign.
They suspect Sarkozy, 59, was also tipped off that his mobile phone had been tapped by judges looking into allegations that his 2007 election campaign had been financed in part by former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Sarkozy has denied the claims that he received up to €50 million ($70 million at the time) from Gaddafi.
Judges last year obtained the unprecedented authorisation to tap the phones of a former president in connection with the Gaddafi investigation, which is ongoing.
Investgators eventually discovered that Sarkozy had a secret phone registered under an assumed name. It was conversations with Herzog recorded on that device that triggered the investigation.
The legal authorisation to record normally priviledged lawyer-client conversations has provoked criticism from parts of France's legal establishment.
Sarkozy's lawyer Herzog and two magistrates were detained Monday for questioning.
The charges against France's former leader carry a possible jail term, which would scuttle his hopes of making a political comeback in time for the next presidential campaign in 2017.
Sarkozy is alleged to have been helped to victory in 2007 with envelopes stuffed with cash from France's richest woman, L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, when she was too mentally frail to know what she was doing.
Investigators are seeking to establish whether Sarkozy, with the help of his lawyer Thierry Herzog, attempted to pervert the course of justice by seeking to obtain inside information from a magistrate about a probe into alleged misdeeds in the financing of his 2007 election campaign.
They suspect Sarkozy, 59, was also tipped off that his mobile phone had been tapped by judges looking into allegations that his 2007 election campaign had been financed in part by former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. Sarkozy has denied the claims that he received up to €50 million ($70 million at the time) from Gaddafi.
Judges last year obtained the unprecedented authorisation to tap the phones of a former president in connection with the Gaddafi investigation, which is ongoing.
Investgators eventually discovered that Sarkozy had a secret phone registered under an assumed name. It was conversations with Herzog recorded on that device that triggered the investigation.
The legal authorisation to record normally priviledged lawyer-client conversations has provoked criticism from parts of France's legal establishment.
Sarkozy's lawyer Herzog and two magistrates were detained Monday for questioning.
The charges against France's former leader carry a possible jail term, which would scuttle his hopes of making a political comeback in time for the next presidential campaign in 2017.
Sarkozy is alleged to have been helped to victory in 2007 with envelopes stuffed with cash from France's richest woman, L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, when she was too mentally frail to know what she was doing.
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