The Sunday Times of London said the revelations have raised suspicions that France's intelligence services were looking for ammunition to use in a smear of Sarkozy when he was interior minister.

The newspaper said the new information came from personal notebooks belonging to Yves Bertrand, head of the French secret police for a dozen years until 2004.

The notes included a variety of claims of smarmy behavior on the part of Sarkozy and other leading French politicians that presumably came from wiretaps.

Bertrand, 64, has denied any smear campaigns, but said it was his duty to know if top officials were engaging in activities that might affect their leadership.