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| Bettencourt affair: Sarkozy 'secret cash' case dropped | Bettencourt affair: Sarkozy 'secret cash' case dropped |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| A criminal investigation into former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, for allegedly soliciting secret campaign financing from France's richest woman. has been dropped, French media say. | A criminal investigation into former French President Nicolas Sarkozy, for allegedly soliciting secret campaign financing from France's richest woman. has been dropped, French media say. |
| Mr Sarkozy has been left off a list of those to appear for trial over the "Bettencourt affair", Le Monde reports. | Mr Sarkozy has been left off a list of those to appear for trial over the "Bettencourt affair", Le Monde reports. |
| He had denied visiting L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt - alleged to be mentally frail - to solicit cash. | He had denied visiting L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt - alleged to be mentally frail - to solicit cash. |
| The decision could leave Mr Sarkozy clear to contest the 2017 election. | The decision could leave Mr Sarkozy clear to contest the 2017 election. |
| Although unpopular when he lost his attempt to be re-elected in 2012, opinion polls now suggest he would beat President Francois Hollande in a re-run. | |
| The possibility of a criminal case against him has, therefore, gripped the media in France. | |
| Mrs Bettencourt's butler testified that Mr Sarkozy was a regular visitor to her home in the run-up to his first election victory in 2007. | |
| It is alleged that one of Mr Sarkozy's aides made separate visits, picking up envelopes stuffed full of cash. | |
| Mr Sarkozy insisted that he only saw Mrs Bettencourt once during 2007. | |
| The argument came to a dramatic head in March, when a judge summoned both Mr Sarkozy and the butler for a face-to-face encounter, after which preliminary charges were filed against the former president. | |
| But those charges have now been dropped, according to Le Monde newspaper and AFP news agency, which quoted a source close to the investigation. |