London, October 10 : President Nicolas Sarkozy had an affair with the wife on one of his present Cabinet members, claims the former head of French police intelligence.

The reported account is said to have taken place four years ago and is amongst the multitude of unsettling revelations about the French political elite.

The eye-opening episodes including drug-taking habits, illicit sex, blackmail and corruption among French leaders, were leaked to Le Point, a news magazine, from the private notebook of Yves Bertrand – ex-central director of the powerful Renseignements Généraux (RG) spy agency for 12 years until 2004.

Judges recently seized the diaries, as part of an investigation into dirty politics, which also claimed that in 2003 the ex-President Jacques “Chirac has been for a facelift in Canada.”

“These notebooks are a terrifying journey under the skirts of the Republic,” TimesOnline quoted ‘Le Point’, which revealed only edited excerpts.

“One could laugh if this exercise in underhand police work had not sometimes broken careers, thwarted democracy and sometimes destroyed lives,” it added.

‘Le Point’ further substantiated that Bertrand’s usual informers included paid journalists.

One of the unproven entries said that Cecilia Sarkozy, the President’s ex-wife had been tipped off by the RG of his suspected infidelity – a similar complaint put up by former Mrs Sarkozy about her ex-husband''s affairs post her divorce.

Sarkozy had Bertrand removed from his post in 2004, suspecting that he was involved in an attempt by Dominique de Villepin, his Cabinet rival, to blacken his name and following his presidential victory Sarkozy dismantled the police spy service.

Bertrand, however, said that his diaries were rough drafts for personal exercise only.

He said: “It is normal that the boss of the RG should be kept informed at an early stage of events. I did not write much about private lives and if I did so, it was to protect members of the government.” (ANI)