Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was held in police custody in Nanterre, Paris, for nearly 15 hours  where he was questioned  over influence peddling and corruption. After visiting police officers he was transferred to a Paris court to appear before a magistrate, where he was charged and released in the early hours of this morning.

The investigation that began in February focused on whether Mr. Sarkozy had used his influence to get information about another separate inquiry that was concerned with the late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s involvement in the funding of his 2007 election campaign. This investigation opened up a can of worms when it was discovered that Mr. Sarkozy had a secret phone under an alias. Recordings from the other phone lead to the opening of six different legal investigations involving the ex-president, including a new one about the way his unsuccessful 2012 election campaign was funded. The leader of the UMP party was forced to resign after it became known that 10 million euros of party money was written off as phony party expenses but spent in support of Sarkozy’s failed re-election campaign.

There are also allegations that Mr. Sarkozy received envelopes stuffed with cash from L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt and allegations that he helped organize kickbacks from a Pakistani arms deal before assuming the presidential office. If convicted, Mr. Sarkozy could face a sentence of up to 10 years in prison bearing in mind that influence peddling can be punished by up to five years in prison and receive a fine of 500,000 euros. This is the second time that Mr. Sarkozy has come under such an investigation. The first occurred in 2013, but it was later dropped.

Mr. Sarkozy’s longtime lawyer Thierry Herzog and magistrate Gilbert Azibert were taken into custody a day earlier and have both been charged with influence peddling. Attorney Paul-Albert Iweins, who represents Thierry Herzog, said that the events reply on phone taps whose legal basis will be strongly contested.