French probe allegations around Sarkozy funding

A judicial official in France says prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation into allegations that the country's richest woman secretly funded President Nicolas Sarkozy's election campaign.

Sarkozy has denied a media report that his 2007 campaign received 150,000 euro ($188,000) in secret cash from L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt. The report said the cash went to the treasurer of Sarkozy's conservative party UMP, Eric Woerth. (AP)