BORDEAUX, Nov 22: French judges grilled former president Nicolas Sarkozy on Thursday about accusations his 2007 election campaign was financed with funds secured illegally from the country’s richest woman.
In a case that could wreck the 57-year-old’s hopes of a political comeback, Mr Sarkozy is suspected of taking financial advantage of elderly L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt when she was too frail to fully understand what she was doing.
Mr Sarkozy’s appearance comes with his right-wing UMP party in turmoil after the battle to replace him degenerated into mud-slinging and both contenders claiming victory.
Examining magistrate Jean-Michel Gentil and two other judges quizzed Mr Sarkozy, who flew into Bordeaux on a private plane, about how he obtained funding from Ms Bettencourt.
Judicial sources said Mr Sarkozy could be formally indicted on a charge of taking advantage of someone in a position of weakness, although the magistrate also has the option of interrogating him as a witness under caution.
Ms Bettencourt is now 90 and has been in poor health since 2006. The allegation against Mr Sarkozy is two-fold: that the money obtained from her took his campaign financing over legal limits and that it had been secured without her full knowledge or consent.
This latter claim was made by Ms Bettencourt’s former accountant, Claire Thibout, in 2010. She told police that she had handed envelopes stuffed with cash to Ms Bettencourt’s right-hand man, Patrice de Maistre, on the understanding it was to be passed on to Mr Sarkozy’s campaign treasurer, Eric Woerth.
Mr Maistre withdrew a total of four million euros ($5.2 million) in cash from Ms Bettencourt’s Swiss bank account in seven instalments between 2007 and 2009.
Investigators suspect some or all of the money could have found its way to Mr Sarkozy or his party.
Claude Gueant, a close ally of Mr Sarkozy who served as his interior minister, said the courts needed to show why his questioning was necessary.
“I would like to be absolutely convinced that this hearing is essential,” he said, insisting there was no chance of illegal campaign financing because of “extremely rigorous” controls. Mr Sarkozy, who lost his immunity from prosecution after losing the presidential election to Socialist Francois Hollande in May, is facing a slew of legal inquiries.
As well as the Bettencourt case, he is facing probes into contracts for opinion polls, an illegal police investigation into journalists and alleged kickbacks on a Pakistani arms deal when Mr Sarkozy was budget minister. Mr Sarkozy has not ruled out another tilt at the presidency in 2017.
Efforts to find a replacement for him within his party have descended into chaos, with ex-prime minister Francois Fillon contesting the result of a bitter leadership election won by party secretary general Jean-Francois Cope.—AFP