PARIS: Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy made his first public comments yesterday over allegations he duped the country’s richest woman to raise election funds, saying he had never betrayed his public duties and pledging to clear his name. Sarkozy was placed under investigation last week for allegedly exploiting the mental frailty of 90-year-old L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, after she was declared in a state of dementia, to help raise money for his 2007 election campaign.
His lawyer rejected the case as flawed.
The conservative ex-president took to Facebook to thank those who had shown him support “at a time when I must face up to the ordeal of an unfair and unfounded investigation”. REUTERS
