Rumours about Nicolas Sarkozy's marriage may have been motivated by a "financial" plot to destabilise him, according to his chief communication adviser.
Pierre Charon said Mr Sarkozy, the French president, could have fallen foul of a "sort of organized plot with financial movements", after reports surfaced online that both he and his wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy were having affairs.
Mr Charon said this would be one among several lines police would be looking into following the launch of a preliminary criminal inquiry into the origin of the internet rumours.
Claims that Mr Sarkozy was having an affair with Chantal Jouanno, the ecology minister, and Mrs Bruni-Sarkozy with Benjamin Biolay, a singer, first circulated on Twitter in February.
France's first couple denied the rumours, which the president dismissed as idiotic "rantings".
They were relayed by at least two French journalists – without substantiation - on their Twitter accounts and in a blog on the website of the Journal du Dimanche, a respected Sunday newspaper whose owner, Arnaud Lagardère is said to be close to the president.
When Mr Sarkozy complained, the blogger – a 23-year-old brought in to "create a buzz" on the site - was sacked and Michael Amand, the director of the site, was forced to resign.
To read full London Telegraph story — Go Here Now.
|
