Sarkozy arrested over Libya cash - Why not here?

The former French president Nicolas Sarkozy was held in police custody yesterday for questioning on allegations that Muammar Gaddafi’s Libya funded for his 2007 election campaign.

Mr Sarkozy, the Élysée Palace incumbent from 2007 to 2012, has always denied receiving any illicit campaign funding and has dismissed the allegations about Libyan support as “grotesque”.

In January a French businessman believed to be the conduit for Gaddafi’s funds was arrested in Britain and granted bail after he appeared in a London court.

Mr Sarkozy has a trial date in a separate matter concerning the funding of his failed re-election campaign in 2012.

These machinations may seem remote and almost irrelevant on a crisp March morning in Ireland but they beg the eternal question: What chance is there that any Irish figure, in politics or business — or both — being challenged in such a way?

Sadly, and to the discredit of our democracy, the answer is all too obvious and unacceptable.