Paris, October 20:

The French government was forced to admit that no one was safe from internet fraud yesterday after it emerged that thieves had managed to hack into president Nicolas Sarkozy’s personal bank account and siphon off some cash.

The unknown hackers removed several small sums of money from the account after obtaining

Sarkozy’s online access codes. An inquiry was launched after the president noticed the transactions and complained to the police, said a government spokesman.

“The swindlers will be punished,” Luc Chatel, secretary of state for consumer affairs, told French radio. He said more work needed to be done to tighten internet banking security in France, which, according to the national crime agency, has seen a nine per cent rise in offences this year.

The Journal du Dimanche newspaper which broke the news yesterday said the architects of the “presidential piracy” did not seem to be amateurs.