TEMPO.CO, Paris - Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was taken into police custody for questioning as part of an inquiry of an alleged power abuse. Although this is the first time France sees its former president being held in police custody, Sarkozy is not the first one to face the law.

In 2011, Sarkozy'z predecessor Jacques Chirac was found guilty of embezzlement and breach of trust during his time as the mayor of Paris. Chirac was given a suspended prison sentence.

Prior to questioning Sarkozy, the French police arrested Sarkozy's lawyer and two magistrates. Detectives are now trying to establish whether the former president promised one magistrate a top-level job in Monaco, in return for information about whether the corruption allegations against him would be brought to court. Sarkozy denies any wrongdoing.

The case surfaced after the police tapped Sarkozy's phone conversations with his lawyer, Thierry Herzog, as part of a separate investigation into claims that the former president accepted illegal donations from the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi for his 2007 presidential election campaign.

Stéphane Le Foll, spokesman for the French government, told i<Tele television station that Sarkozy is "subject to justice like everyone else," and that the French justice system is "investigating and will follow this through to the end."

GUARDIAN | ABDUL MANAN