French police have been called in to investigate the origin of recent rumours about President Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife, the supermodel turned singer Carla Bruni.
The criminal inquiry will seek to establish whether a series of internet rumours were an attempt to discredit the French leader in the run up to France taking charge of the G20 economic group next year, as suggested by one of the president's close advisers.
Pierre Charon, head of communications at the Elysée palace, has called on police to establish whether there was an "organised conspiracy" in which money changed hands.
His comments came after the respected French newspaper the Journal du Dimanche (JDD) launched criminal action against unknown persons for "the fraudulent introduction of data into a computer system". An item in one of the newspaper's blogs suggested problems in the 55-year-old president's marriage to Bruni.
While French newspapers, mindful of the country's draconian privacy laws, largely ignored the rumours, they were picked up and widely reported abroad, despite the lack of attribution., including in Britain. Two employees of the Lagardère group, which publishes the JDD, have resigned, but the Elysée was said to have "strongly encouraged" the newspaper to begin legal proceedings. "We are treating this ignominy as a casus belli. We want to take it all the way so that it never happens again. It's time to make the fear change sides," Charon told the French magazine Nouvel Observateur.
Charon told the news website Rue 89 he wanted the matter brought to court.
"It's a way to put an end to all this bullshit and stop people spreading it. It's gone too far. The fact that something like this could be found on the JDD's site goes beyond rumour. It's unacceptable."
He added: "In saying that it is time the fear changed sides, I was expressing my anger in the face of a tsunami of falsehoods. "There has to be a legal process and we will see if there has been an organised conspiracy with money changing hands … it's a matter for the police."
Sarkozy and his 43-year-old wife have denied the rumours which the president described as "idiotic".
