'Bruni quizzed as a suspect by corruption investigators'

FORMER French first lady and singer Carla Bruni was questioned by police yesterday as a criminal suspect in a wide-ranging corruption case.

- Peter Allen

The 56-year-old is said to have tried to "whitewash" her husband, former President Nicolas Sarkozy, 69, over allegations he accepted millions in cash from the late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi.

Bruni, who denies any wrongdoing, attended the Paris offices of the anticorruption authority.

A source close to the case said: "Her status is free suspect." Bruni is a close friend of Mimi Marchand a French media fixer who has been placed under formal investigation for "witness tampering" and "criminal corruption".