Russian fertiliser oligarch Dmitry Rybolovlev has been detained for questioning by police in Monaco in connection with a corruption investigation. Mr Rybolovlev, who lives in the principality and owns Monaco FC football club, was taken into police custody on Tuesday, a person with knowledge of the situation told Financial Times.

French newspaper Le Monde, which first reported the detention, said the questioning was related to a case probing “corruption” and “influence peddling” by Monaco authorities that has led to the resignation of the principality’s former justice minister. Under French law, people detained for questioning can be held for up to 48 hours before being released without charge or put under formal investigation.

“We regret the breach of confidentiality of the inquiry that this information represents, and we request that the presumption of innocence in relation to Mr Rybolovlev is strictly respected,” the Russian billionaire’s lawyers Hervé Temime and Thomas Giaccardi said in a statement.

A spokesperson for Mr Rybolovlev declined to comment. A spokesman for the Monaco police could not be immediately reached for comment. Mr Rybolovlev, who is worth around $6.8bn according to Forbes magazine, made his fortune through Russian fertiliser producer Uralkali, which he sold in 2010.

In 2008, he bought a mansion in Palm Beach from Donald Trump for $95m, more than twice the price Mr Trump paid for it four years earlier.