Because I’m worth it NICOLAS SARKOZY is nothing if not a fighter and after the initial shock of his judicial entanglement he vowed to clear his name. In a message posted on Facebook on March 25th, the former French president described the decision by investigating judges to lay preliminary charges (mis en examen) against him as unfair and unfounded. “The truth will prevail”, he declared. The affair has shaken the political right, and brought fresh uncertainty to its efforts to take on François Hollande, the Socialist president.After investigating judges questioned Mr Sarkozy last November, it looked as if he had escaped the worst. The hearing was part of a long-running probe centred on Liliane Bettencourt, the 90-year-old billionaire heiress to L’Oréal, a cosmetics empire, which touches alleged illegal financing of his successful 2007 presidential-election campaign. After 12 hours of interrogation, the judges designated him a “material witness”, and left it at that. On March 21st, however, after further questioning, they placed Mr Sarkozy under formal investigation and laid preliminary charges for “abuse of frailty…
The Economist: Europe
