French police yesterday raided the Paris home and offices of Nicolas Sarkozy, the former French president, in connection with a long-running investigation into allegations of illicit campaign funding.
It is the first time that Mr Sarkozy has been directly targeted in the so-called Bettencourt affair, after his defeat in May’s presidential election stripped him of the immunity he enjoyed in office.
For the past two years, magistrates have been investigating claims that Mr Sarkozy’s first electoral campaign may have received illicit cash donations from Liliane Bettencourt, the 89-year heiress to the L’Oréal cosmetics fortune and France’s richest woman.