French Police Raid Nicolas Sarkozy's Home and Offices

Update (11:52 a.m. EDT): Canada's Globe and Mail has some details about the raid: "Around ten police officers accompanied investigating magistrate Jean-Michel Gentil on the raid on his home and on offices he has recently rented in Paris, a source close to the enquiry said." It also reports that "Le Monde newspaper’s website said that investigators had also searched the lawyers’ offices where Mr. Sarkozy was once an associate."

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Update (11:40 a.m. EDT): To get caught up on the Bettencourt scandal, check out The New York Times' curtain-raiser on the story from 2010, The Telegraph's timeline from late 2011, and The Guardian's report on new evidence of illegal funding, from March 2012.

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Update (11:30 a.m. EDT): Sarkozy and Bruni are not in France, having left for vacation in Canada on Monday, their lawyer tells Le Figaro.

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Original: French police investigating former president Nicolas Sarkozy on corruption allegations wasted little time in raiding his and wife Carla Bruni's home and offices Tuesday, less than a month after his immunity against prosecution ended. The officers are "investigating claims that Sarkozy received cash from l'Oréal heiress Lilian Bettencourt in return for tax breaks," according to Paris-based journalist Peter Allen on Twitter. Allen continues: "Judge Jean-Michel Gentil believes Bettencourt illegally contributed 2 payments of 400,000 euros each to Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign."

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