Sarkozy's home, office searched

PARIS, July 3 (UPI) -- French police, investigating allegations of illegal campaign financing, raided the home and office of former President Nicholas Sarkozy Tuesday.

An investigating magistrate in Bordeaux, France is attempting to establish whether Sarkozy's UMP Party illegally received up to 800,000 Euros, or $1,008,000, in funding for its 2007 election campaign from elderly heir to the L'Oreal fortune Lillian Bettencourt, the British newspaper The Guardian reported Tuesday.

Police searched Sarkozy's rented mansion in west Paris, and the office of the legal firm where he is a partner, the newspaper said.

Sarkozy was on his way to a vacation in Quebec at the time of the police search, his lawyer said.