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France鈥檚 former Interior Minister Claude Gu茅ant has been jailed for nine months for failing to pay debts to the Tr茅sor public national treasury.

The 76-year-old former minister, who served in the government of Nicolas Sarkozy, has been incarcerated in Paris鈥� Prison de la Sant茅.

This comes as a result of his failure to pay the money he owed to the state following his involvement in the 鈥減rimes de cabinet鈥� affair in the early 2000s, during which Mr Gu茅ant and other Cabinet members took funds destined for police investigations and used them to award cash bonuses to himself and his staff.

Mr Gu茅ant was sentenced in 2017 to two years in prison 鈥� one suspended 鈥� for complicity in the embezzlement of public funds, and fined 鈧�75,000.

In France, prison sentences of less than two years can normally be served outside of prison if the individual is kept under surveillance through the use of an electronic tag, so thus far Mr Gu茅ant has not had to serve any of his sentence in jail.

He was also ordered to repay 鈧�210,000 to the state in damages and interest.

The ex-minister was unable to repay his debts quickly enough with his pension of 鈧�5,500. 鈥淥f this sum, 鈧�3,000 are being paid to the national treasury each month,鈥� Mr Gu茅ant鈥檚 lawyer Philippe El Ghozi told .

鈥淚t was believed that he should be paying more, but he didn鈥檛 have any more. Because he did not pay any more, they decided that he must execute part of his sentence in prison.

鈥淭his is a very heavy decision,鈥� said Me El Ghozi. 鈥淐laude Gu茅ant will soon be 77 years old: he is in a situation which is to be expected of a man of his age, with very serious health problems which will be examined by the doctors at the prison today and tomorrow.鈥�

Mr Gu茅ant is incarcerated in the vulnerable prisoners鈥� unit due to his health, and Me El Ghozi has said that he will request that the judge reconsider his sentence.

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