French judges have authorised a fresh probe against ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy as part of the so-called "Karachi affair," a judicial source told AFP, reports The Australian.
Three judges decided on Thursday to proceed with a probe to see whether Sarkozy violated a confidentiality law when the Elysee presidential palace published a press release on the affair in September 2011.
The press release said that Sarkozy's name did not figure in any of the files on the so-called Karachi affair, which stems from a 2002 bombing in the Pakistani city that killed 11 French engineers.
The engineers' families sued Sarkozy over the press release, charging that it violated laws that prohibit publication of information about ongoing investigations.
Although prosecution argued that Sarkozy cannot be investigated because he had presidential immunity at the time, the judges disagreed.
"The act of permitting the release of information concerning ongoing investigations does not enter into the functions of the president," the three investigating judges said in their ruling.
Read more of this report from The Australian.