Ex-French president Sarkozy questioned for second day over alleged Libya funds

PARIS - Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was questioned for the second day on Wednesday over suspected funds he received from late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to finance his 2007 election campaign, according to local media reports.

Financial investigators started the second session of Sarkozy's questioning at 08:00 am local time (0700 GMT) as part of an inquiry into media claims he took cash funding his victorious election bid in 2007 from Libya.

The 63-year-old conservative politician was placed in custody on Tuesday. He left offices of judicial investigators specialized in corruption, money laundering and tax evasion in the Nanterre commune near Paris, at midnight, said reports.

French investigators can keep Sarkozy in custody for up to 48 hours, after which he could be released without charge.

Ex-Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux, one of Sarkozy's supporters, was also queried over the suspected funds of Libyan origin on Tuesday.

A judicial inquiry was opened as early as in April 2013 into the suspected irregularities in the former president's campaign funding after investigative online journal Mediapart unveiled that Libya had offered money to finance his campaign.

In 2016, French-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine revealed to Mediapart that he had delivered three suitcases containing 5 million euros ($6.14 million) in cash, from then Libyan leader Gaddafi to Sarkozy, as well as to Sarkozy's former chief of staff and campaign director Claude Gueant between 2006 and 2007.

Takieddine said he had given a written deposition to judges on Nov 12, 2016, detailing the cash handovers and his meetings with them.

Sarkozy was implicated before in corruption investigations.

In 2013, he was placed under a judicial probe into allegations of false accounting during his 2012 re-election campaign. The false accounting hid the fact that he had exceeded his election spending limits.

He was also accused of accepting election-financing from the elderly French billionaire Liliane Bettencourt, the heiress of L'Oreal group. But magistrates later dropped the case against him.

Sarkozy served as president of France from May 2007 to May 2012.