PARIS (Reuters) - Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy went on prime time television on Thursday to reject accusations of illicit Libyan funding for his 2007 election campaign and said they were making his life “hell”. 
 
 The 63-year-old, who held power from 2007 to 2012, was told by investigators on Wednesday after two days of questioning in police custody that he was formally suspected of passive corruption, an offence that carries a sentence of up to 10 years in jail. 
 
 At issue is a murky affair of Libyan spies, arms dealers and allegations that late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi provided Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign with millions of euros shipped to Paris in suitcases - allegations Sarkozy has always denied. 
 
 “There’s not even the smallest inkling of proof,” Sarkozy, visibly upset, said in a 25-minute evening news interview. 
 
 “Do you want to know the figure the police who questioned me calculated regarding the sum believed to have circulated during my 2007 campaign? Thirty-eight thousand euros - which for a campaign that cost 21 million euros represents 0.0018 percent: This is a very far cry from the crazy amounts of 50 million euros,” he said. 
 
 Sarkozy, who came under fire for giving Gaddafi a red-carpet reception in Paris in late 2007, said his problems began in March 2011 after he hosted Libyan rebels and went on to become one of the main advocates of a NATO-led campaign that resulted in the dictator’s overthrow and killing by rebels in 2011. 
 
 He also denounced what he described as lies from one of his main accusers, a Franco-Lebanese businessman who has described himself among other things as a “middleman in the shadows” on liaison between Paris and Libyan secret service chiefs. 
 
 FILE PHOTO: Nicolas Sarkozy, former head of the Les Republicains political party, attends a Les Republicains (LR) public meeting in Les Sables d'Olonne, France, October 1, 2016. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe/File Photo 
 
 Le Figaro newspaper published a lengthy account of what it said was a verbatim declaration by Sarkozy to magistrates. 
 
 “This calumny has made my life a living hell since March 11, 2011,” Sarkozy states, according to the newspaper. 
 
 “I’ve paid a heavy price for this affair. Put it this way: I lost the presidential election of 2012 by 1.5 percentage points. The controversy initiated by Gaddafi and his henchmen cost me that 1.5 percent”. 
 
 Sarkozy tried to stage a comeback in 2016 in the Republican presidential primary but there is no sign that he would attempt another return to politics. 
 
 ACCUSATIONS 
 
 The accusations prompted the opening of a judicial inquiry in 2013 which snowballed this week when Sarkozy was called in for interrogation and, on Wednesday evening, formally placed under investigation as a suspect in the affair. 
 
 In France, being “placed under investigation” is a step that judicial investigators can take if they have serious grounds for suspecting an offence. It often but not always leads to trial. 
 
 Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy leaves the judiciary police offices in Nanterre, near Paris, France, March 21, 2018. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe 
 
 Sarkozy, who was called “president bling bling” by many due to his flashy style, has been dogged for years by accusations of wrongdoing. He is challenging an order to stand trial on charges of illicit spending overruns during his failed 2012 campaign. 
 
 One of the many factors that played in 40-year-old Emmanuel Macron’s presidential election win in May 2017 was a promise of a clean break with traditional French politics, often marred by accusations of corruption. 
 
 Sarkozy’s immediate predecessor, Jacques Chirac, was tried and convicted in 2011 of misusing public funds to keep political friends in phantom jobs - making him the first French head of state to be convicted of a crime since Nazi collaborator Marshall Philippe Petain in 1945. 

 Image copyright EPA Image caption Mr Sarkozy clinched big trade deals for France with Libya's Gaddafi in 2007 when he was president 
 
 Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy says allegations he received campaign funding from late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi are making his life "hell". 
 
 "I am accused without any physical evidence," Mr Sarkozy told magistrates, Le Figaro newspaper reports. 
 
 He has been placed under formal investigation for illicit election campaign financing in 2007, misappropriation of Libyan public funds and passive corruption. 
 
 Mr Sarkozy, 63, denies any wrongdoing. 
 
 The centre-right politician, who was in police custody being questioned for two days this week, says his Libyan accusers are seeking vengeance for his decision to deploy French warplanes during the uprising which overthrew Gaddafi in 2011. 
 
 On Thursday, Le Figaro published what it said was the full court statement made by Mr Sarkozy to French investigators (in French). 
 
 In it, he says that he is aware the allegations against him are "serious", but that they amount to "slander" and have made his life "hell" since 11 March 2011, when the claims were first made by Gaddafi. 
 
 Hammer blow for ex-leader 
 
 Analysis by Hugh Schofield, BBC News, Paris 
 
 Image copyright Reuters Image caption Mr Sarkozy has been questioned in police custody 
 
 These accusations against Nicolas Sarkozy are in a different realm from all those other judicial problems that he has faced. The others are classic allegations of illegal party funding and abuse of influence. 
 
 This one is about taking money from a foreign dictator. 
 
 In each case, presumption of innocence has to prevail. Mr Sarkozy's key argument is that he is the victim of a left-wing vendetta: judges out to get him. 
 
 On Libya, he points out that his accusers - henchmen of Gaddafi and sleazy middlemen - are not exactly paragons of veracity. 
 
 But the truth is that this is a hammer blow to the former president. The judges believe there are "serious and coherent" indications that he did indeed take money from the Libyans, and on that basis they will now conduct their investigation. 
 
 The implications are devastating. If the charges are true, then the whole story of Sarkozy's presidency will have to be re-assessed. More importantly, what would it say about the French-led campaign to topple Gaddafi in 2011? A campaign in which the UK was persuaded by France to take part. 
 
 Big questions - if the charges are true. But don't expect any quick answers. This case could drag on for years. 
 
 What is the Libya case about? 
 
 In 2013, France opened an investigation into allegations that Mr Sarkozy's campaign had benefited from millions of euros of illicit funds from Gaddafi. 
 
 He failed in his bid to return to power in 2012, however, losing to Socialist candidate François Hollande. 
 
 The claims came from a French-Lebanese businessman, Ziad Takieddine, and some former Gaddafi regime officials. 
 
 In November 2016, Mr Takieddine told the French news website Mediapart that in 2006-2007 he had handed over three suitcases stuffed with 200- and 500-euro notes to Mr Sarkozy and Claude Guéant, who was his chief of staff. 
 
 Mr Takieddine alleged the cash came from Gaddafi and totalled €5m (£4.4m; $6.2m). 
 
 Mr Sarkozy was detained in 2014 in a separate investigation into alleged campaign funding abuses - the first time this has happened to a French ex-president. 
 
 Mr Guéant, who was managing Mr Sarkozy's presidential campaign in 2007, told the franceinfo website on Tuesday that he had "never seen a penny of Libyan financing". 
 
 He was placed under formal investigation earlier this year over a €500,000 bank transfer in 2008. He has denied wrongdoing and claimed the money came from the sale of two paintings. 
 
 Does Sarkozy face other charges? 
 
 Criminal proceedings have been launched against Mr Sarkozy in one other case of alleged illicit campaign financing. 
 
 It is alleged that he engaged in accounting fraud to overshoot the ceiling for campaign expenditure in 2012, which was €22.5m. 
 
 Mr Sarkozy denies he was aware of the overspending. 
 
 The affair is known as the Bygmalion scandal. 
 
 In connection with his 2007 campaign, Mr Sarkozy was previously cleared over claims that he had used secret funding from L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt and that he had tried to influence investigating magistrates.
– Former French President Nikolas Sarkozy is facing serious corruption allegations, but he not only denies them, he says they cost him the presidency. "This calumny has made my life a living hell since March 11, 2011," he told a French court this week after being placed under formal investigation, per Reuters. Sarkozy's campaign is accused of accepting suitcases full of cash from then-Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi in 2007 in breach of campaign finance laws. Sarkozy says it never happened and that he is "accused without any physical evidence." He claims that Gadhafi made up the story to discredit him because Sarkozy supported the military effort to overthrow the Libyan dictator in 2011. "I've paid a heavy price for this affair," says Sarkozy, who served as president from 2007 to 2012. "Put it this way: I lost the presidential election of 2012 by 1.5 percentage points. The controversy initiated by Gadhafi and his henchmen cost me that 1.5%." The case against Sarkozy centers on French-Lebanese businessman Ziad Takieddine, who says he gave suitcases filled with $6.2 million of cash that came from Gadhafi to Sarkozy campaign official Claude Gueant, reports the BBC. Gueant said Tuesday that he has "never seen a penny of Libyan financing."