Just as the US election is wrapped up, France is now moving quickly into high gear for the elections which are in the spring. Yesterday the "hot" scandal was about Sarkozy - the center-right candidate - who supposedly used his influence as the Interior Minister to track down his son's motor scooter which was one among thousands and thousands of missing motos. Yawn and big shock on that story. Favoritism, sure, but a big deal? No. Today's story is a much bigger deal though and one that could really take off because it plays into the fears that many have of Sarkozy, which is that he is power hungry and will play outside of the rules to get what he wants even if that means using the state to attack opponents.
Accusations were made last week that M. Sarkozy's office had prompted an investigation by the Renseignements Generaux (RG) - similar to MI5 or Special Branch - into one of Mme Royal's advisers. Yesterday, the newspaper which made the allegation, Le Canard Enchaine, said a senior officer in the RG had also ordered an investigation last November into property owned by Mme Royal and her partner, Francois Hollande.It's no wonder he's chummy with Bush and Blair if these allegations are true.
The newspaper did not state directly that the investigation had been ordered by M. Sarkozy. It pointed out, however, that a member of M. Sarkozy's centre-right party had placed information about the value of Mme Royal and M. Hollande's three properties on the internet earlier this month together with an - inaccurate - allegation that they were evading wealth tax.
