Nicolas Sarkozy is taking a three-day cruise in Malta with his wife Cecilia and son Louis, 10, before he takes over from Jacques Chirac on 16 May.
The British-registered yacht Paloma, on which he and his family are cruising, belongs to a friend of Nicolas Sarkozy, the French billionaire tycoon Vincent Bollore, and costs up to 200,000 euros ($270,000) for a week’s rental.
Le Figaro French newspaper said that the cruise caused "concern among a number of friends of Nicolas Sarkozy."
Meanwhile rioters torched cars in a third night of protests against Nicolas Sarkozy coming to power.
