Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president of France Interrogated for Corruption

Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president of France who is trying to revive his political fortunes, was put under formal investigation on Wednesday, a senior member of his conservative party said, in a corruption and influence-peddling case that threatens to upend his political ambitions.

François Fillon, a former prime minister and a member of Mr. Sarkozy’s right-leaning Union for a Popular Movement party, confirmed on his blog that Mr. Sarkozy had been put under formal investigation. “Nicolas Sarkozy is presumed innocent,” he wrote.

 

The decision to open a formal investigation suggests that investigators believe they have enough evidence against the former president to link him to a crime, legal experts said. Under the French criminal justice system, a formal investigation is led by an investigating judge and can take months.

 

If the investigative judge in Mr. Sarkozy’s case determines that there is sufficient evidence to charge him, the former president could face trial for influence-peddling and abuse of power, or the case could be dropped.

 

The latest twist in a case that has gripped France came a day after Mr. Sarkozy was held for questioning by the police for 15 hours, news agencies reported, an unprecedented indignity for a former French president. Mr. Sarkozy, a conservative who led the country from 2007 to 2012, was detained and questioned before being taken to a Paris court to meet with investigators. He was released after midnight, the French media said.

 

The anticorruption authorities in France are looking into whether Mr. Sarkozy, abetted by his lawyer, Thierry Herzog, sought to obtain information from an influential appeals court judge, Gilbert Azibert, about investigations linked to the former president, including an inquiry into the financing of his 2007 presidential election campaign. Among the accusations against Mr. Sarkozy is that the campaign received up to 50 million euros, or about $68 million, in illegal funds from Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya. They are also investigating whether Mr. Sarkozy, Mr. Herzog and Mr. Azibert worked together to reward Mr. Azibert for his help in the case with a post in Monte Carlo.

 

Mr. Sarkozy, 59, has denied any wrongdoing and characterized the investigation as a politically motivated smear campaign. Mr. Sarkozy is the first former president in modern France to be detained and questioned in police custody.

 

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