Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has defended himself against the "mad allegations" that he accepted millions of euros in illegal campaign funding from late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

"It's an ignominious act, not (just) a lie," Sarkozy said during a live television interview. "I owe the French people the truth: I never betrayed their trust."

The one-term ex-leader was handed preliminary charges yesterday in an investigation of his successful 2007 campaign for the French presidency.

The charges include illegally funding the campaign, passive corruption and receiving money from Libyan embezzlement.

"I'm not above the law, but I'm not below it either," Sarkozy, 63, said during the TF1 interview.

He was detained and questioned by anti-corruption police before he was given the preliminary charges by judges leading the probe.

Le Figaro newspaper reported today that Sarkozy said in his statement to the investigating judges that "I am accused without any physical evidence".

He said he was "living the hell of this slander" since 2011 and denounced the accusations as lies, according to a text of the statement published by the newspaper. The allegations were first made in 2011 by Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam.

According to the text, the former president told investigators that the allegations even cost him a re-election bid in 2012 when they emerged during the campaign.

Investigators are examining allegations that Gaddafi's regime secretly gave Sarkozy â¬50m for his 2007 presidential election bid.

The former president was released last night but placed under judicial supervision.

As France's president from 2007 to 2012, Sarkozy put France in the forefront of the Nato-led airstrikes against Gaddafi's troops that helped rebel fighters topple Gaddafi's regime in 2011.

An investigation has been under way since 2013 into the case.

It got a boost when French-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine told the online investigative site Mediapart in 2016 that he delivered suitcases from Libya containing â¬5m in cash to Sarkozy and his former chief of staff, Claude Gueant.

Mr Takieddine repeated his allegations during a live interview with France's BFM TV on Wednesday night.</s>Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy told magistrates that accusations of illicit Libyan funding for his 2007 election campaign were a web of lies that had made his life “hell” and lost him a re-election bid in 2012, Le Figaro newspaper said. The 63-year-old, who held power from 2007 to 2012, was told by investigators after two days of questioning in police custody on Wednesday he was formally suspected of passive corruption, an offense that carries a sentence of up to 10 years in jail.

At issue is a murky affair of Libyan spies, arms dealers and allegations that late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi provided Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign with millions of euros shipped to Paris in suitcases – allegations Sarkozy has always denied.

The newspaper published a lengthy account of what it said was a verbatim declaration by Sarkozy.

“This calumny has made my life a living hell since March 11, 2011,” he states, according to the newspaper.

“I’ve paid a heavy price for this affair. Put it this way: I lost the presidential election of 2012 by 1.5 percentage points. The controversy initiated by Gaddafi and his henchmen cost me that 1.5 percent”.

Sarkozy, who came under fire for giving Gaddafi a red-carpet reception in Paris in late 2007, said his problems began in March 2011 after he hosted Libyan rebels and went on to become one of the main advocates of a NATO-led campaign that resulted in the dictator’s overthrow and killing by rebels in 2011.

He also denounced what he described as lies from one of his main accusers, a Franco-Lebanese businessman who has described himself among other things as a “middleman in the shadows” on liaison between Paris and Libyan secret service chiefs.

The accusations prompted the opening of a judicial inquiry in 2013 which snowballed this week when Sarkozy was called in for interrogation and, on Wednesday evening, formally placed under investigation as a suspect in the affair.

In France, being “placed under investigation” is a step that judicial investigators can take if they have serious grounds for suspecting an offense. It often but not always leads to trial.

Sarkozy, who was called “president bling bling” by many due to his flashy style, has been dogged for years by accusations of wrongdoing. He is challenging an order to stand trial on charges of illicit spending overruns during his failed 2012 campaign.

One of the many factors that played in 40-year-old Emmanuel Macron’s presidential election win in May 2017 was a promise of a clean break with traditional French politics, often marred by accusations of corruption.

Sarkozy’s immediate predecessor, Jacques Chirac, was tried and convicted in 2011 of misusing public funds to keep political friends in phantom jobs – making him the first French head of state to be convicted of a crime since Nazi collaborator Marshall Philippe Petain in 1945.</s>Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy denounced a smear campaign from Muammar Qaddafi’s relatives after prosecutors charged him with accepting illegal campaign contributions from Qaddafi’s regime in Libya before the 2007 French election.

“There’s no evidence, no document, no photograph, no account, no material evidence: Only hatred, mud, mediocrity and calumny,” Sarkozy said Thursday in an interview on the nightly newscast of TF1, the country’s most watched television channel. “I never betrayed the French’s trust.”

The interview is part of the former president’s effort to fight back in the court of public opinion after days of headlines about the investigation. He was charged Wednesday after being taken into police custody for questioning by a special financial crimes unit. In France, charges are brought during an investigation, before a decision is made on whether the matter will go to trial.

Sarkozy, 63, served as head of state from 2007 to 2012, when he lost a bid for re-election. He placed a distant third in 2016 in the primary to be the candidate of the center-right Republicans in last year’s election. The former president told TF1 that he would not seek to re-enter political life.

Sarkozy has been the target of several criminal investigations since he left office in 2012. In 2014 he was charged with influence-peddling for alleged efforts to have judges keep him informed about the state of play in some of the probes. An investigative judge decided in February 2017 to send him to trial on charges that he used false receipts to illegally exceed campaign-spending limits in his failed 2012 re-election bid. Both cases are still pending.</s>PARIS (AFP) - Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy returned to police custody on Wednesday (March 21) for a second day of questioning over allegations the late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi helped finance his 2007 election campaign, sources close to the inquiry told AFP.

Sarkozy, 63, arrived just before 8am (3pm Singapore time) at the bureau of officers specialising in corruption, money laundering and tax evasion in the western Paris suburb of Nanterre, an AFP journalist said.

He was first taken into custody on Tuesday morning, but left the police building around midnight.

His lawyers did not respond to requests for comment.

Since 2013, investigating magistrates have been probing media reports, as well as statements by Kadhafi's son Seif al-Islam, that claimed funds were provided for Sarkozy's run at the presidency.

The case is France's most explosive political financing scandal and one of several legal probes that have dogged the right-wing politician since he left office after one term in 2012.

Brice Hortefeux, a Sarkozy ally who was a top minister during his presidency, was also questioned on Tuesday until about 11.30pm.

"Testifying freely, the details provided should put an end to a series of errors and lies," Hortefeux later wrote on Twitter.

Under French law Sarkozy can be held for questioning for up to 48 hours, after which he can be either released, told to return for further questioning later, or brought before a judge to potentially face charges.

In 2011, as Nato-backed forces were driving Kadhafi out of power, Seif al-Islam told the Euronews network that "Sarkozy must first give back the money he took from Libya to finance his electoral campaign."

Sarkozy has dismissed the allegations as the rantings of vindictive Libyan regime members who were furious over France's military intervention in Libya that helped end Kadhafi's 41-year rule and led to his death.

He has also sued the investigative website Mediapart, which has led media coverage of the Libyan allegations since 2012, publishing a document allegedly signed by Libya's intelligence chief showing that Kadhafi had agreed to fund Sarkozy to the tune of 50 million euros (S$81 million).

The case drew heightened scrutiny in November 2016 when a Franco-Lebanese businessman admitted delivering three cash-stuffed suitcases from the Libyan leader in 2006 and 2007 as contributions towards Sarkozy's first presidential run.

In an interview, again with Mediapart, Ziad Takieddine claimed he provided 1.5 to 2 million euros in 200-euro and 500-euro notes each time and was given the money by Kadhafi's military intelligence chief Abdallah Senussi.

The legal investigation is looking into these allegations, as well as a 500,000-euro foreign cash transfer to Sarkozy ally Claude Gueant, and the sale of a luxury villa in 2009 in the south of France to a Libyan investment fund for an allegedly inflated price.

Sources close to the inquiry say it was expanded in January to include suspected "illegal campaign financing," after police issued a report indicating large amounts of cash spending by Sarkozy's team during the 2007 campaign.

Campaign treasurer Eric Woerth and a deputy, Vincent Talvas, told investigators the money was provided by anonymous donors and totalled 30,000 to 35,000 euros.

Those claims have been contested by former campaign employees, the source said.

It is not the first time Sarkozy has been brought in for questioning: In July 2014 he became the first former French president to enter police custody over a separate inquiry into claims that he tried to interfere in one of several investigations that have dogged him since leaving office.

Investigating magistrates have recommended that Sarkozy face trial on separate charges of illegal campaign financing over his failed 2012 re-election bid.

The prosecution claims Sarkozy spent nearly double the legal limit of 22.5 million euros on that campaign, using false billing from a public relations firm called Bygmalion.

He faces up to a year in prison if convicted, but he is appealing the decision to send him to trial, claiming he knew nothing about the fraudulent practices that Bygmalion executives have admitted to.

Sarkozy failed with a comeback bid for the presidency in November 2016 and has stepped back from frontline politics since then, though he remains a powerful figure behind the scenes at the rightwing Republicans party.</s>PARIS - French ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy told magistrates who put him under formal investigation on Wednesday that accusations that he got illicit Libyan funding for his 2007 election campaign were lies that were making his life "hell", Le Figaro newspaper said.



The newspaper published a lengthy account of what it said was a declaration by Sarkozy, in power from 2007 until 2012, made to investigators who told him after two days in custody he was formally suspected of passive corruption and other offences.



"This calumny has made my life a living hell since March 11, 2011," the newspaper quoted the 63-year-old as having told the investigators. Prosecutors are looking into allegations that Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign was aided by millions of euros in money from late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.



According to Le Figaro, Sarkozy said he was the victim of a destabilization campaign that began in March 2011, based on accusations from Tripoli and a Franco-Lebanese businessman who is also at the center of a judicial inquiry that began in 2013 but snowballed this week when Sarkozy was held for questioning.</s>French ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy blasted what he said was a lack of evidence for the corruption charges against him over claims the late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi funded his 2007 election campaign, in his court statement published Thursday.

The morning after he was charged in France's most explosive political scandals in decades, the 63-year-old rightwinger said in the statement published by the Figaro newspaper that he had been in "living hell" since the allegations emerged in 2011.

Demanding he be treated as a witness rather than a suspect, he urged magistrates to consider "the violence of the injustice" if it was proven, as he claims, that the accusations are a "manipulation by the dictator Kadhafi or his gang".

"In the 24 hours of my detention I have tried with all my might to show that the serious corroborating evidence required to charge someone did not exist," Sarkozy said.

"I stand accused without any tangible evidence through comments made by Mr Kadhafi, his son, his nephew, his cousin, his spokesman, his former prime minister," he added.

The allegations that Sarkozy took money from Kadhafi -- whom he helped to topple in 2011 -- are the most serious out of myriad investigations dogging him since he left office in 2012.

Judges decided they had enough evidence to charge the combative one-term president Wednesday after five years of investigation and two days of questioning in police custody in the Paris suburb of Nanterre.

Sarkozy, who served from 2007 to 2012, was charged with corruption, illegal campaign financing and concealment of Libyan public money, a judiciary source told AFP.

"I've been living the hell of this slander since March 11, 2011," when the allegations first emerged, Sarkozy said.

Since 2013, investigators have been looking into claims by several figures in Kadhafi's ousted regime, including his son Seif al-Islam, that Sarkozy's campaign received cash from the dictator.

In 2011, as NATO-backed forces were driving Kadhafi out of power, Seif al-Islam told the Euronews network that Sarkozy must "give back the money he took from Libya to finance his electoral campaign".

The revelations came as Sarkozy was trying to win re-election, but he ultimately lost the 2012 race to Socialist Francois Hollande.

Sarkozy has dismissed the allegations as the rantings of vindictive Kadhafi loyalists who were furious over the French-led military intervention that helped end Kadhafi's 41-year rule and ultimately led to his death.

He has also sued the investigative website Mediapart for publishing a document allegedly signed by Libya's intelligence chief showing that Kadhafi agreed to give Sarkozy up to 50 million euros ($62 million).

In his court statement Sarkozy lashed out at Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, who claims to have delivered three cash-stuffed suitcases from Kadhafi in 2006 and 2007, when Sarkozy was preparing his first run for president.

Takieddine, who claimed he provided a total of five million euros in three suitcases to Sarkozy and his then chief of staff Claude Gueant, has "highly suspect characteristics and a questionable past", Sarkozy said.

"I would like to remind you that he has no proof of any meeting with me during this period 2005-2011."

The legal investigation is also looking into a 500,000-euro foreign cash transfer to Sarkozy's former interior minister Claude Gueant and the 2009 sale of a luxury villa to a Libyan investment fund.

Le Monde newspaper further reported that other former regime officials have stepped forward alleging illicit financing.

In 2014 Sarkozy became the first former French president to be taken into police custody, over a separate inquiry into claims he tried to interfere in another legal investigation against him.

But he is not the first ex-president to be charged with corruption -- his predecessor Jacques Chirac was given a two-year suspended sentence in 2011 for embezzlement and misuse of public funds.

Sarkozy is already charged in two separate cases, one relating to fake invoices devised to mask overspending on his failed 2012 campaign and another for alleged influence peddling.

Sarkozy has stepped back from frontline politics since his failed re-election bid, but he still holds considerable influence with his rightwing Republicans party.

The party has so far backed him publicly.

"Being charged does not necessarily mean you are guilty," said Republicans leader Laurent Wauquiez.</s>Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy went on prime time television on Thursday to reject accusations of illicit Libyan funding for his 2007 election campaign and said they were making his life "hell".

The 63-year-old, who held power from 2007 to 2012, was told by investigators on Wednesday after two days of questioning in police custody that he was formally suspected of passive corruption, an offence that carries a sentence of up to 10 years in jail.

At issue is a murky affair of Libyan spies, arms dealers and allegations that late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi provided Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign with millions of euros shipped to Paris in suitcases - allegations Sarkozy has always denied.

"There's not even the smallest inkling of proof," Sarkozy, visibly upset, said in a 25-minute evening news interview.

"Do you want to know the figure the police who questioned me calculated regarding the sum believed to have circulated during my 2007 campaign? Thirty-eight thousand euros - which for a campaign that cost 21 million euros represents 0.0018 percent: This is a very far cry from the crazy amounts of 50 million euros," he said.

Sarkozy, who came under fire for giving Gaddafi a red-carpet reception in Paris in late 2007, said his problems began in March 2011 after he hosted Libyan rebels and went on to become one of the main advocates of a NATO-led campaign that resulted in the dictator's overthrow and killing by rebels in 2011.

He also denounced what he described as lies from one of his main accusers, a Franco-Lebanese businessman who has described himself among other things as a "middleman in the shadows" on liaison between Paris and Libyan secret service chiefs.

Le Figaro newspaper published a lengthy account of what it said was a verbatim declaration by Sarkozy to magistrates.

"This calumny has made my life a living hell since March 11, 2011," Sarkozy states, according to the newspaper.

"I've paid a heavy price for this affair. Put it this way: I lost the presidential election of 2012 by 1.5 percentage points. The controversy initiated by Gaddafi and his henchmen cost me that 1.5 percent".

Sarkozy tried to stage a comeback in 2016 in the Republican presidential primary but there is no sign that he would attempt another return to politics.

The accusations prompted the opening of a judicial inquiry in 2013 which snowballed this week when Sarkozy was called in for interrogation and, on Wednesday evening, formally placed under investigation as a suspect in the affair.

In France, being "placed under investigation" is a step that judicial investigators can take if they have serious grounds for suspecting an offence. It often but not always leads to trial.

Sarkozy, who was called "president bling bling" by many due to his flashy style, has been dogged for years by accusations of wrongdoing. He is challenging an order to stand trial on charges of illicit spending overruns during his failed 2012 campaign.

One of the many factors that played in 40-year-old Emmanuel Macron's presidential election win in May 2017 was a promise of a clean break with traditional French politics, often marred by accusations of corruption.

Sarkozy's immediate predecessor, Jacques Chirac, was tried and convicted in 2011 of misusing public funds to keep political friends in phantom jobs - making him the first French head of state to be convicted of a crime since Nazi collaborator Marshall Philippe Petain in 1945.</s>PARIS, March 22 (Reuters) - French ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy told magistrates who put him under formal investigation on Wednesday that accusations that he got illicit Libyan funding for his 2007 election campaign were lies that were making his life "hell", Le Figaro newspaper said.

The newspaper published a lengthy account of what it said was a declaration by Sarkozy, in power from 2007 until 2012, made to investigators who told him after two days in custody he was formally suspected of passive corruption and other offences.

"This calumny has made my life a living hell since March 11, 2011," the newspaper quoted the 63-year-old as having told the investigators. Prosecutors are looking into allegations that Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign was aided by millions of euros in money from late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

According to Le Figaro, Sarkozy said he was the victim of a destabilisation campaign that began in March 2011, based on accusations from Tripoli and a Franco-Lebanese businessman who is also at the centre of a judicial inquiry that began in 2013 but snowballed this week when Sarkozy was held for questioning. (Reporting by Brian Love and Emmanuel Jarry Editing by Geert De Clercq)</s>Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy told magistrates on Wednesday there was ‘no evidence’ in claims he received illicit Libyan funding for his 2007 campaign and that accusations were making his life "hell", a French newspaper says.

Conservative daily Le Figaro published a lengthy account of Sarkozy’s purported comments to investigators who told him after two days in custody that he was formally suspected of passive corruption and other offences.

"This calumny has made my life a living hell since March 11, 2011," the newspaper quoted the 63-year-old as saying. "I stand accused without any material evidence,” Sarkozy reportedly told judges.

Being placed under "formal investigation" in France indicates that magistrates have found sufficient evidence of wrongdoing – in this case of illegal campaign financing, "passive" corruption and the misuse of Libyan public funds – that the investigation can go forward, possibly to trial.

Prosecutors are looking into allegations that former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi secretly gave Sarkozy €50 million for his inaugural presidential campaign in 2007. The allegations were first made by one of the late dictator’s sons, Saif al-Islam, in 2011.

The case drew heightened scrutiny in November 2016 when Franco-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine said he delivered three suitcases stuffed with Libyan cash to Sarkozy's former chief of staff and campaign director, Claude Guéant, between 2006 and 2007.

In January, British police detained French businessman Alexandre Djouhri at Heathrow Airport as part of the long-running investigation into Sarkozy’s suspected Libyan financing. A spokesman for London's Metropolitan Police confirmed Djouhri's arrest was executed "under a European arrest warrant" for fraud and money laundering.

Sarkozy has always denied the allegations.

>> Read more: Gaddafi relations haunt Sarkozy in 2007 campaign financing case

The former French president had a complex relationship with Gaddafi. Soon after his election to the presidency, he controversially invited the Libyan leader to Paris for a state visit and welcomed him with high honours. But Sarkozy then put France at the forefront of NATO-led airstrikes against Gaddafi's troops that helped a hodgepodge of rebel fighters topple his regime in 2011.

The Libyan investigation is just one of several legal probes that have dogged the former head of state since his one-term presidency ended in 2012. Investigating magistrates have recommended he face trial on separate charges of illegal campaign financing over his failed re-election bid.</s>PARIS - France’s Nicolas Sarkozy faced a second day of questioning on Wednesday by investigators looking into allegations that his 2007 election campaign had received funds from late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Sarkozy, president from 2007 to 2012, was seen by a Reuters photographer leaving his home in Paris with his lawyer in a car, then entering the offices of investigators who had placed him in custody and started questioning him on Tuesday.

The start of a second day of questioning was confirmed by a second source close to the inquiry who said the session started at 8am local time (0700 GMT).

Neither Sarkozy nor his lawyers have commented publicly about the latest development in an inquiry that began five years ago. But the 63-year-old has in the past called the allegations “grotesque” and a “manipulation”.

The judicial inquiry began in 2013 after the French news website Mediapart published assertions by a Franco-Lebanese businessman, Ziad Takieddine, that he had transferred 5 million euros ($6 million) from Gaddafi’s former intelligence chief Abdullah Senussi to Sarkozy’s campaign chief.
In a statement to French investigating magistrates, ex-President Nicolas Sarkozy refutes corruption charges relating to alleged receipt of funding from the then President of Libya, Muammar Gaddafi, in 2007.