Ex-aide to Sarkozy held for questioning in graft probe

Paris (AFP) - Former French minister Claude Gueant, a close associate of ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy, was being held for questioning on Tuesday in a corruption investigation, a judicial source said.

The source said Gueant and the former director general of the French national police, Michel Gaudin, were being questioned as part of a probe into alleged cash handouts from police to Gueant when he was chief of staff for then interior minister Sarkozy.

The two were being questioned by police from a special unit for fighting corruption and financial crimes and can be held for up to 48 hours.

An investigation was opened in June after a government report revealed that Gueant had been handed 10,000 euros ($13,780) in cash every month from the police budget between 2002 and 2004.

Sources close to Gueant have said the cash was not for personal or political use and was used to pay special bonuses to officers assigned to ensure Sarkozy's personal protection, under a longstanding tradition.

Gueant was interior minister under Sarkozy, the centre-right president who was defeated in an election last year by Socialist Francois Hollande.

Sarkozy has been at the centre of a series of investigations into alleged corruption cases since leaving office.