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Source: Ny Times
Mr. Sarkozy, who led France’s most prominent conservative party, was questioned a day after investigators questioned Mr. Herzog, Mr. Azibert and another magistrate. Under French law, the subject of an investigation can be arrested and questioned for up to 24 hours, with a possible extension of another day, without being formally charged with a crime.
Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president of France, was detained for questioning by French anticorruption investigators on Tuesday as part of an inquiry into breach of judicial secrecy and influence peddling, a senior prosecutor said.
Éliane Houlette, the national prosecutor in charge of financial corruption cases, said in a telephone interview Tuesday that Mr. Sarkozy had been detained for questioning at 8 a.m. She did not provide further details.
The anticorruption police are trying to establish whether Mr. Sarkozy, with the help of his lawyer Thierry Herzog, tried to obtain information from a well-placed magistrate, Gilbert Azibert, about an investigation that ensnared the former president.
Under French criminal law, influence peddling, or abuse of power in seeking to gain a favorable decision from a public authority or administration, is punishable by five years in prison and a fine of as much as 500,000 euros, or $684,000.
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