Sarkozy placed under formal investigation in suspected Libyan fund: report

PARIS, March 21 (Xinhua) -- Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was placed under formal investigation on Wednesday on suspected funds of Libyan origin, a local newspaper reported.

After questioning Sarkozy for 48 hours on the allegations, financial magistrates decided to open a formal investigation on suspicion of passive corruption, illegal financing of election campaign and concealment of Libyan public funds, the local newspaper Le Monde reported.

Sarkozy, who served as the president of France from May 2007 to May 2012 and remains the country's most popular conservative figure, was also placed under judicial control, it added.

The 63-year-old ex-president was placed in police custody on Tuesday and appeared for the first time before financial magistrates in Nanterre court, near Paris, in connection with a probe into alleged cash from Libya he received to fund his election bid in 2007.

A judicial inquiry was opened as early as in April 2013 into the suspected irregularities in the former president's campaign funding after investigative online journal Mediapart unveiled that Libya had offered money to finance his campaign.

In 2016, French-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine revealed to Mediapart that he had delivered three suitcases containing 5 million euros (6.16 million U.S. dollars) in cash, from then Libyan leader Gaddafi to Sarkozy, as well as to Sarkozy's former chief of staff and campaign director Claude Gueant between 2006 and 2007.

Takieddine said he had given a written deposition to judges on Nov. 12 2016, detailing the cash handovers and his meetings with them.

These allegations were repeatedly rejected by Sarkozy. Enditem