PARIS - Three days after a resounding electoral victory for his conservative party, former French President Nicolas Sarkozy is appearing before investigators probing financing of his failed 2012 re-election bid.
The Paris prosecutor's office says the UMP party leader was being questioned Wednesday by an investigating judge looking into suspected breach of trust.
Two years ago, France's constitutional court ruled that Sarkozy's 2012 campaign exceeded the legal funding limit. Judges are investigating the UMP's payment of a fine linked to the ruling that they believe he should have paid. The ruling stripped the party of state reimbursements and left it with an 11-million-euro ($11.8 million) bill.
On Sunday, the UMP chalked up wins across France in local elections that saw President Francois Hollande's Socialists lose nearly half of the councils it controlled.
