Sarkozy in yet another nepotism row

French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been placed at the centre of fresh nepotism reports claiming he got an official cultural adviser to lobby a body that declined to fund a project by his eldest son.

Pierre Sarkozy, 24, a hip hop and rap producer-composer, was said to have been refused funding worth 10,000 euros from SCPP, the civil society for phonographic producers since he was not a member.

According to Electronlibre, a call from the Elysée Palace, the president’s official residence, saw the SCPP offer to “provide all the (necessary) guarantees that the affair would be resolved in the right way”, reports the Telegraph.

Marc Guez, the head of the SCPP, reportedly sent an email promising to handle the matter “personally”.

The Elysée said the call was made to simply enquire the reason behind the declined funding.

But the LePost website probed: “is it in the remit of an adviser of the French president to find out why his son’’s dossier was refused by an independent body?”

Yves Riesel, a producer and former member of the SCPP’’s commission, advised Pierre Sarkozy to join the body. “If this little boy isn”t capable of phoning up the commission himself to ask for explanations like any other producer and he’’s asked the Elysée to do it for him, that’’s his problem.”