The former chief executive of Vivendi Universal, Jean-Marie Messier, was taken into police custody in Paris today in an investigation into financial misappropriation during his time at the telecommunications giant, police said.

VIVENDI Universal’s dream of landing a $14 billion cash-rich deal for its US entertainment empire is fast evaporating with final bids likely to fall short of the mark, sources involved in the auction said.

The future of Vizzavi - the £1bn (€1.56bn) internet joint venture between Vivendi Universal and Vodafone Group PLC - was uncertain this weekend as the cash crisis at Vivendi worsened and the online group was forced to appoint an emergency chairman, it was claimed today.

Jean-Marie Messier, the much-maligned chairman of Vivendi Universal, has been formally removed from his post and replaced by Jean-Rene Fourtou, of the pharmaceutical giant Aventis.

Persistent worries about corporate accounting scandals sent stock prices sharply lower again today as a new probe into the books of WorldCom worsened an already dismal climate of distrust in corporate America.