France's Prime Minister, Jean-Marc Ayrault, admitted he was aware of the recording of former president Nicolas Sarkozy's phone calls by judicial order, in an interview with the France 2 television channel Tuesday night.
Ayroult had rejected an appeal by MPs from Sarkozy's former party, Union pour un Mouvement Populaire (UMP), to hold an emergency parliamentary meeting, saying executive authorities should not interfere into the eavesdropping affair.
The eavesdropping, ordered by judges, has raised concerns in France because it is seen as a violation of the right to a private life.
In his interview, Ayrault revealed that he and his justice minister, Christiana Taubira, had been aware of the wiretapping, although the minister denied it on Monday. He added that neither of them have seen the content of the wiretapped documents.
The judges eavesdropped on Sarkozy's calls with his lawyer Thierry Herzog over former president's alleged links with former Libyan president Muammar Gaddafi, who he is alleged to have received funding from for his 2007 election campaign.
France's bar association and judges syndicate condemned the eavesdropping and urged President Francois Hollande to act.
Manuel Valls, the interior minister, said he learned about the case through media reports while the president had known about it since March 4, before the allegations publicly emerged.
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