DHAKA: French president Francois Hollande’s Paris love nest is registered to a convicted criminal with mafia links.

The Daily Mail has reported, says gulfnews.com.

Michel Ferracci was given an 18-month suspended prison sentence last year for his role in a group that laundered money from a Corsican crime gang through a Paris casino.

The revelation will prompt questions about how and why Hollande was able to use the £2.5 million apartment for his trysts with actress Julie Gayet.

It is said to have been used in the past for ‘private business’ by senior French officials including philandering ex-presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Jacques Chirac.

The building, a stone’s throw from the Elysee Palace, contains apartments owned by wealthy businessmen including multimillionaire fashion designer Pierre Cardin.

The intriguing background of the fourth-floor flat, on which Ferracci pays the local taxes, although it is not known who owns the property, is bound to have been checked out by the president’s security staff.

BDST: 2015 HRS, JAN 13, 2014
Edited by Robab Rosan, Current Affairs Editor