Nicolas Sarkozy detained for questioning over alleged corruption

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The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy has been taken into police custody for questioning as part of an inquiry into alleged abuse of power.

The unprecedented step followed the arrest of Sarkozy's lawyer and two magistrates who are under investigation for allegedly using their influence to obtain information about legal cases against him.

Detectives are trying to establish whether the former leader promised a top-level job in Monaco to a magistrate in return for letting him know whether corruption allegations against him would go to court. Sarkozy denies any wrongdoing.

The police move on Tuesday represents a blow to Sarkozy's hopes of making a political comeback in 2017. The former leader of the UMP is said to have been hoping to profit from the disarray and lack of leadership in his centre-right party, which is itself mired in legal investigations, to stand for president again.

Christian Estrosi, the mayor of Nice and an MP for the UMP party, rushed to defend Sarkozy on Tuesday. "Never has a former president been subjected to such treatment, such an outburst of hatred," he tweeted.

Government spokesman Stéphane Le Foll denied there had been any political pressure behind the move to question Sarkozy.

"The justice system is investigating and will follow this through to the end. Nicolas Sarkozy can face justice just like anyone else," Le Foll said.

It is alleged that information obtained from tapping the former leader's phone conversations with his lawyer, Thierry Herzog, a controversial and unusual step, suggested there had been what was referred to as a "traffic of influence".

Police were listening to Sarkozy's calls as part of a separate investigation into claims he accepted illegal donations from the former Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi for his 2007 presidential election campaign.

Sarkozy served one term in office before being beaten by the Socialist candidate, François Hollande, in 2012.

When he discovered his phone had been tapped, Sarkozy allegedly obtained another phone under the pseudonym Paul Bismuth, to talk to his lawyer.

In the taped conversations, detectives allegedly heard information that Herzog had been tipped off by a magistrate about a legal decision over yet another police investigation into whether or not Sarkozy accepted illegal campaign funds from France's richest woman, Liliane Bettencourt.

Police raids on the lawyer's and magistrates' homes suggested they had tried to obtain information about the legal case against Sarkozy.

Investigators have not said if Sarkozy, who was told he was being held for questioning after he arrived at the police station in Nanterre in the Paris suburbs early on Tuesday, is being questioned as a witness or a suspect.

Sarkozy and the three others being held in police custody are being questioned over allegations of "abuse of power" and "violating the secrecy of a legal inquiry". They face up to five years in prison and a €500,000 (£400,000) fine if convicted.

It is believed to be the first time a former president has been held in police custody, although Sarkozy is not the first to face the law. In 2011 his predecessor, Jacques Chirac, was found guilty of embezzlement and breach of trust while he was mayor of Paris and given a suspended prison sentence.

Sarkozy spent all day and evening at the police station, according to Reuters, who said one of their journalists later saw him at about 11.40pm arriving at a Paris civil court, where he was to be presented to judges.

Under the French legal system, being sent before the court would be the next step in the possible opening of a formal investigation against a suspect – a step that often, but not always, leads to trial.

France's Socialist employment minister, François Rebsamen, told France Culture radio on Tuesday: "We're used to surprises with Nicolas Sarkozy.

"There's a legal inquiry and I'll wait for its conclusions. Having said that, in terms of financial matters, this period was marked with a lack of respect for the rules and by excesses that are now before the judges."