A political row over revelations that French investigators had tapped the phone of ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy took a new turn on Wednesday after Francois Hollande's government acknowledged it knew of the surveillance, reports Reuters.
Sarkozy's opposition conservatives, torn by in-fighting and facing allegations over irregular party funding, jumped on the news to accuse Hollande of political dirty tricks to discredit them ahead of local elections later this month.
Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault confirmed a report in satirical newspaper Le Canard enchaine that both he and Justice Minister Christiane Taubira had been made aware of the phone-tapping on February 26. Taubira said on Monday she was not aware of the surveillance before it was leaked to local media last week.
"The justice minister received the information, subsequently passed on to me, that a new investigation had been opened regarding extremely serious matters. That's when I learnt of it (the phone-tapping)," he told France 2 television late Tuesday.
Ayrault stressed however that neither he nor Taubira had seen transcripts from the phone-tapping, which investigators launched last year after allegations that late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi funded Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign.
Sarkozy, who has dropped hints he is preparing to run against for president in 2017 after being ousted by Hollande in 2012, has denied all wrongdoing.
Read more of this report from Reuters.