France’s Sarkozy detained over allegations of bribery by Libya

[WingNot]

By James McAuley March 20 at 9:57 AM Email the author
PARIS — Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was taken into police custody early Tuesday over allegations that he illegally accepted 50 million euros ($68.5 million) from the government of the late Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi to finance his successful 2007 presidential campaign.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/

Non paywall link
https://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2018/03/20/Ex-French-president-in-police-custody-questioned-over-Libya-funding-probe/3991521551479/?utm_source=sec&utm_campaign=sl&utm_medium=2

[the_doc]

Wait a minute!  Ex-presidents can't be arrested, can they?

[Right_in_Virginia]

Sarkozy, who was president from 2007-12, had a complex relationship with Gadhafi. Soon after becoming the French president, Sarkozy invited the Libyan leader to France for a state visit and welcomed him with high honors. But Sarkozy then put France in the forefront of NATO-led airstrikes against Gadhafi’s troops that helped rebel fighters topple his regime in 2011.

It is not the first time that Sarkozy faced legal troubles. In February 2017, he was ordered to stand trial after being handed preliminary charges for suspected illegal overspending on his failed 2012 re-election campaign. Sarkozy has appealed the decision.

https://www.apnews.com/cf8d3fd0641941229d920a1d8455a227

Nicky, Nicky, Nicky   ....      You've made some serious enemies ,,, hope you can afford the legal fees. 

[mountaineer]

Nicolas Sarkozy in police custody over Gaddafi allegations
French ex-president questioned over claims Libyan regime gave his election campaign €50m


The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been taken into police custody to be questioned over allegations that he received millions of euros in illegal election campaign funding from the regime of the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Sarkozy, who was France’s rightwing president from 2007 to 2012, was being questioned on Tuesday morning by police officers specialising in corruption, money laundering and tax evasion at their office in the western Parisian suburb of Nanterre, as part of an inquiry into whether Gaddafi and others in Libya illegally financed his winning election campaign in 2007.

The investigation is potentially France’s most explosive political financing scandal in decades. Sarkozy has repeatedly denied the allegations, dismissing the claims as “grotesque”.

It is the first time police have questioned Sarkozy over the allegations. A French inquiry into alleged illegal campaign funding from Libya was opened in 2013. The inquiry did not name anyone as a suspect, and has centred on claims of corruption, influence trafficking, forgery, abuse of public funds and money laundering.  ... The Guardian