French Prez's 'love nest' has Mafia links

The apartment French President Francois Hollande is said to have stayed in during an alleged affair with an actress has links to the mafia, it has been reported. France's leadership has been plunged into scandal after magazine Closer alleged Hollande, (59), had been having an affair with actress Julie Gayet (41).Last week, the tabloid printed pictures, which, it said, showed Gayet and Hollande coming out of and going in an overnight visit to a flat on Paris' 8th Arondissement, prompting the French president to threaten to sue the publication for breach of privacy.

It has been claimed the French president and his lover Julie Gayet would meet at this £2.5 million Paris love nest, registered to writer and actor Michel Ferracci. The allegations have left the First Girlfriend, Valerie Trierweiler, exhausted and in hospital. Pics/AFP

But, over the weekend, it was revealed that his long-term partner Valérie Trierweiler had been hospitalised following the revelations, with doctors telling her to rest before being discharged. And yesterday, French website Mediapart has reported that the flat used for the suggested romantic liaisons was linked to Corsican Mafia figures.

Hospital. File pic

It reported that the name on the lease for the flat is Michel Ferracci, who has been convicted in connection with a money laundering inquiry. It added that Gayet had been loaned the apartment by friend Emmanuelle Hauck, who was at one time married to Ferracci.

After splitting from her husband, Hauck was linked with Francois Masini, who was also said to have had Corsican mafia links before he was shot dead last year. However, Emmanuelle Hauck, denied her ex-husband Michel Ferracci, who was given an 18-month suspended sentence in connection with money-laundering last November, had ever owned, rented or lived in the property and threatened to sue for defamation.

Journalist Trierweiler has made no formal comment since news of Hollande's alleged cheating was made public last week, but sources to her say she is ‘incensed and humiliated' by the scandal.

Trierweiler ‘ready to forgive' Hollande
Valerie Trierweiler is "ready to forgive" François Hollande for having a secret affair with Julie Gayet, but only if she receives ‘clarification' about his intentions, it was reported. "She seems prepared to forgive (him), she doesn't want to slam the door on a whim," a close friend has told a newspaper. According to reports, she only learned of the affair on Thursday night, when Hollande broke the news to her in person. "The scene took place in the Elysée without blows or shouting," a paper said.