Paris -- Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy criticized prosecutors on Wednesday, who accused him of corruption and influence-peddling and said that the charges hurled against him were politically manipulated.

In a television interview, Sarkozy told TF1, a French broadcaster, that he was shocked by what happened.

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"The situation was sufficiently grave for me to tell the French people about the political exploitation of a part of the justice system today," Sarkozy said in an interview.

He accused anticorruption investigators of "grotesque" behavior after the former president became the target of a corruption inquiry. Sarkozy learned that his private conversations were secretly recorded, examined his connections with a well-known judge and looked into the finances he spent during his 2007 campaign.

According to a New York Times report, Sarkozy's televised comments highlighted the political gambit associated in the case. The French political milieu is characterized by a Hollande administration that is losing public support; the center-right allies of the former president are in a frenzy while the National Front, France's far-right political party begins to fill the electoral vacuum.

Before Sarkozy appeared on the televised broadcast, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said in an interview with BFM television that the investigations surrounding the Sarkozy case is fair. He suggested that no one is above the law, including a former president.

“This situation is serious; the facts are grave,” Valls said. “As head of the government, I’m asking that we recall the independence of the justice system, which must carry out its work serenely.”

Authorities are investigating whether the former president tried to obtain information from Gilbert Azibert, an appeals court judge, regarding an inquiry into Sarkozy's campaign financing in 2007.

The accusation involved Sarkozy received campaign funds of up to 50 million euros (US$68 million) majority of which were illegally sourced from Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya. Anticorruption investigators are also trying to find out whether Azibert disclosed information to Sarkozy in exchange for a post in Monaco.

Sarkozy, 59, was taken into custody and kept in a police station for 15 hours in a police station before taken to see two judges at 2 a.m. He is the first former president in contemporary France to be taken into custody and detained for 15 hours.

TagsNicolas Sarkozy, Inquiry, Detention