Nicolas Sarkozy says his life is ‘hell’ as he faces formal investigation

Nicolas Sarkozy has protested his innocence after being placed under formal investigation over allegations he illegally accepted campaign funding from late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The former French president is being probed for illicit campaign financing, misappropriation of Libyan public funds and passive corruption, reports the BBC.

Sarkozy said there is no evidence to support the allegations. "I am accused without any physical evidence," Sarkozy wrote in an article published in French newspaper Le Figaro.

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He complained that his life has been made “hell” and claimed his Libyan accusers are acting out of revenge over his decision to deploy French warplanes during the uprising which overthrew Gaddafi in 2011.

The 63-year-old was summoned for questioning on Tuesday, which he voluntarily attended. According to a source quoted by CNN, Sarkozy has been placed under judicial supervision, a step investigators in France can take to limit the movements of a suspect.

Sarkozy has been accused of financial wrongdoing before. In July 2012, police raided his home as part of an investigation into alleged illegal assistance from L'Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt during the 2007 election campaign. Those charges were eventually dropped.

In 2014, a French judge ordered Sarkozy to stand trial in an illegal campaign finance case, after accusations that his party falsified accounts in order to hide €18m (£15m) of campaign spending in 2012. Sarkozy denies he was aware of the overspending.