PARIS, France — Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy was taken into custody Tuesday in connection with allegations that he received millions of euros in illegal campaign financing from the regime of late Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. Sarkozy, 63, has vehemently and repeatedly denied wrongdoing in the case, which involves funding for his winning 2007 presidential campaign. Investigators are examining claims that Gadhafi’s regime secretly gave Sarkozy 50 million euros overall for the 2007 French campaign. The sum would be more than double the legal campaign funding limit at the time, 21 million euros. But Sarkozy then put France in the forefront of NATO-led airstrikes against Gadhafi’s troops that helped rebel fighters topple Gadhafi’s regime in 2011.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer March 21, 2018 05:03 UTC