French 'poison pen' man quizzed

Mr Gergorin resigned this month from his top job at EADS

A former top defence executive has been detained by police in connection with the Clearstream corruption inquiry that has rocked French politics.

Jean-Louis Gergorin, a former vice-president of the defence firm EADS, is being questioned near Paris.

He has admitted writing an anonymous letter to a judge which implicated Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy in an alleged money-laundering scheme.

The judge found the accusations to be false.

Mr Gergorin turned up voluntarily at the national fraud squad headquarters in Nanterre near Paris on Tuesday.

His letter mentioned accounts with a leading Luxembourg-based financial clearing house, Clearstream, which Mr Gergorin alleged were used by Mr Sarkozy and other leading French politicians and celebrities to launder money.

Mr Gergorin has denied trying to damage Mr Sarkozy's presidential ambitions.

The affair has also embroiled Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, who has denied any dirty tricks against his rival, Mr Sarkozy.

It has been alleged that Mr de Villepin, now prime minister, once asked a top intelligence agent to find compromising evidence against Mr Sarkozy.

Mr de Villepin and Mr Sarkozy are rivals to be the right's candidate for the presidency next year.