France’s former domestic spy chief is to face trial for ordering the seizure of the phone records of a journalist investigating a case of alleged illicit political party funding involving France’s richest woman and Nicolas Sarkozy, the former president, reports The Financial Times.
The move is the latest development in a series of legal actions that continue to dog Mr Sarkozy and figures who were close to him during his five-year term, which ended last year in his election defeat by François Hollande.
Mr Sarkozy was himself placed under formal investigation earlier this year for allegedly taking advantage of the mental frailty of Liliane Bettencourt, the 90-year-old billionaire heiress to the L’Oréal cosmetics fortune, by soliciting undeclared election funding from her in 2007 before his victorious campaign that year.
He flatly denies the allegation and is seeking to have the case against him dismissed.
In 2010, as the Bettencourt affair was unfolding, Bernard Squarcini, head of the DCRI, the domestic intelligence agency, at the time demanded the phone records of a journalist for Le Monde and an official in the justice ministry in a bid to discover the source of leaks about the case that were appearing in the newspaper.
The Elysée Palace denied ordering the DCRI probe.
Mr Squarcini argues that his action was legal and in defence of the national interest. But a spokeswoman for the Paris court said the investigating judges had sent him for trial charged with “the collection of personal data by fraudulent, unfair or illicit means” – a charge that carries a possible jail term of up to five years and a fine of €300,000.
Le Monde reported that the judges’ ruling found there was “no overriding public interest imperative” that justified seizure of the phone records.
Seven people, including Mr Sarkozy and Eric Woerth, one of his former ministers, are under formal investigation in the Bettencourt case, which spun out of a separate dispute between Mrs Bettencourt and her daughter over control of her assets.
The action against Mr Squarcini came days after Stéphane Richard, now head of France Telecom, was placed under formal suspicion of fraud. That case stemmed from his role as a senior finance ministry official under Mr Sarkozy in a €400m arbitration payout to Bernard Tapie, a prominent businessman and supporter of the president who had long been in a commercial dispute with the state. Mr Richard denies any wrongdoing.
Read more of this report from The Financial Times.
See also:
The scandalous intimidation of the French media
Three Sarkozy allies to be questioned as Bettencourt probe nears its dramatic conclusion