He was caught in another embarrassing political gaffe after his claims that he had visited Japan’s Fukushima nuclear plant after the earthquake and tsunami last year were proved false, The Telegraph reports.

“I went to Fukushima [with then ecology minister, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet]… and unlike Francois Hollande, I can tell you the disaster was caused by the 42-meter wave from a tsunami. Frankly, I don’t see the immediate risk of a tsunami in Alsace,” Sarkozy told a 5,000-strong crowd in Normandy, according to The Daily Mail. He was referring to Hollande’s promise to close France’s Fessenheim plant in the Alsace region and scale back nuclear activities.

While Sarkozy was the first western leader to visit Japan after the tragedy, records show he did not leave Tokyo. “This is the first time in the history of the French republic that a candidate has told of a voyage he never made,” his rival, Francois Hollande said. Other politicians and even the Japanese media were merciless as well.

Sarkozy was finally forced to accept he had not been to Fukushima, telling I-Tele "I'm not an engineer, I don't need to stick my nose in the situation at Fukushima." He clarified it was Kosciusko-Morizet who went to the plant...