French former interior minister Claude Gueant has been detained in connection with a probe into whether late Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi financed the successful 2007 campaign of ex-president Nicolas Sarkozy, Gazzetta del Sud reported.
Investigators are questioning Gueant, formerly Sarkozy's closest advisor, about the provenance of a 500,000-euro deposit into his bank account in March 2008.
Gueant has reportedly always said that money came from the sale of two painting by 16th-century Flemish artist Andries van Eertvelt to a lawyer.
Investigators suspect the transaction may have been a cover.