French ex-president Sarkozy in police custody - media

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was being held in police custody today for questioning by magistrates looking into allegations of Libyan funding for his 2007 election campaign, Reuters reported citing an official in the French judiciary.

The former French President was being questioned by officers at Nanterre police station, west of Paris, according to Le Monde.

France opened a judicial inquiry in 2013 into allegations that Sarkozy’s successful 2007 election bid benefited from illicit funds from late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

A former minister and close ally of Sarkozy, Brice Hortefeux, was also being questioned by police this morning in relation to the Libya investigation, another source close to the probe said.

Sarkozy, who served as president from 2007 to 2012, has always denied receiving any illicit campaign funding and has dismissed the Libyan allegations as “grotesque”.

In January a French businessman suspected by investigators of funneling money from Gaddafi to finance Sarkozy’s campaign was arrested in Britain and granted bail after he appeared in a London court.