Nicolas Sarkozy faces new accusation of fraud over campaign spending

Mr Sarkozy, 60, faces a possible formal accusation of “fraud” or “receiving the benefits of fraud” at the close of  lengthy questioning today by two investigating magistrates.

He is suspected of illegally allowing his centre-right party to pay a €360,000 fine which was imposed on him personally for breaching the legal limits on campaign spending in 2012.

Separately, three of the most senior figures in Mr Sarkozy’s failed bid for re-election were arrested today for questioning about a far more serious alleged conspiracy to falsify his campaign accounts.  The trio, including Mr Sarkozy’s  campaign manager and treasurer, face formal accusations that they concealed bills amounting to more than €18m to allow the former President to spend nearly twice as much as the law allowed.

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If Mr Sarkozy is formally placed under investigation today – one step short of a charge – he will become the most investigated former President in modern French history. He was already accused by other investigating magistrates last summer of trying to bribe a senior judge for information on two other cases in which his name appeared.

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The weekend success in local elections of his centre-right party, the Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP)  appeared to put Mr Sarkozy on track for another record – the first defeated president of the Fifth Republic (post 1958) to run again. His chances of winning the centre-right presidential “nomination” for 2017  in a primary in autumn next year could yet be wrecked by his legal problems.

Mr Sarkozy and his supporters insist that the cat’s cradle of accusations against him – at least a dozen cases, if his close friends and associates are included – has been concocted by political enemies and especially by President Francois  Hollande. There is not a shred of evidence of such a conspiracy.

The former President’s main rival for the centre-right nomination for 2017, the former Prime Minister Alan Juppé, was asked about Mr Sarkozy’s difficuties in a radio interview today. He replied: “ I hope, with all my heart, that he can prove his innocence.

The accusation of “fraud” in the payment of Mr Sarkozy’s steep electoral fine by the UMP is, arguably, a minor offence. The basic facts are not disputed. Mr Sarkozy refunded the Euros 363,615 to the party when he ended his “retirement” and returned as leader last September.

Nicolas Sarkozy may become the most investigated former President in modern French history (AFP/Getty) The fine was imposed in 2013 for a relatively modest €1.6 m breach of the €22.5m legal limit on spending by presidential candidates in 2012.  Mr Sarkozy insists that he was advised  by lawyers, and by the finance ministry, that it was permissible for his party to pay the fine.

The second accusation of systematic faking of Mr Sarkozy’s campaign accounts to allow over-spending of another €18.5m is far more serious. The former President denies all knowledge of this scam and has not yet been questioned on the subject.

It is alleged that dozens of bills for large campaign events were transferred to the accounts of the party, which issued fictitious invoices to a company called Bygmalion run by former UMP officials. Seven people, including the former UMP president, Jean-Francois Copé, have already been “mis en examen” or formally accused of forgery and fraud.

Mr Sarkozy’s 2012 campaign manager, Guillaume Lambert, his treasurer Philippe Briand, and the UMP’s  lawyer, Philippe Blanchetier, were all under arrest for questioning on  the “Bgymalion affair” today.

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