FRENCH president Nicolas Sarkozy's brother has become the latest high-profile figure to be named as a possible father of glamorous justice minister Rachida Dati's new baby.

Younger brother François Sarkozy, 47, visited the mother and child at a Paris clinic on Sunday night, sparking rumours that he was the father of four-day-old Zohra Dati.

He is the latest in a string of top names circulating in France being mooted as 42-year-old Dati's mystery lover.

François, a pharmaceutical company boss, is said to have spent Christmas Day with the minister as she awaited the birth, then later visited the Muette clinic in Paris with his elder brother Guillaume.

Others on the paternity hit list include President Sarkozy himself, with whom the politician was romantically linked before he met his wife Carla Bruni.

Former Spanish prime minister Jose-Maria Aznar, ex-boyfriend and businessman Henri Proglio, Barrière hotel and casino chief Dominique Desseigne and a French television host have also been named as potential suspects.

All of them have refused to comment on the rumours, except Mr Aznar, who took the unusual step of issuing a forceful public denial.

The minister's clinical use of language last year, when she said if the pregnancy was "consolidated" she would be very happy, also triggered speculation she could have used a sperm bank at a clinic in Copenhagen last year.

Moroccan-born Ms Dati - France's first female Muslim minister - has said she is "unruffled" by speculation about the father and has no wish to be a role model for single mothers. She said: "I left school at 16, my family was not privileged and I struggled for many years. My life is not a beautiful story."

Last year, her brothers Omar Dati and Jamal Dati were given prison sentences for drug dealing. After training as a lawyer and working as a magistrate, Ms Dati was plucked from political obscurity by Mr Sarkozy.

Rumours then began circulating that he was having an affair with her while married to his previous wife Cecilia. Ms Dati's love for revealing designer clothes earned her the nickname Rachida Barbie from politicians.

Her presence in the Elysee Palace is said to have made Ms Bruni jealous at a time when she was competing for the president's affections.

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