A French senator was arrested for questioning on suspicion of drugging an MP with a view to sexually assaulting her.

Joël Guerriau, 66, a centrist senator from western France, was being held for “administering to a person without their knowledge a substance likely to diminish their judgment or self-control to commit a rape or sexual assault”, prosecutors said on Thursday.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a €75,000 (£65,500) fine.

While the prosecutors named the victim only as “a woman, who filed a complaint”, French media widely reported that she is an MP.

She allegedly felt strange after accepting a drink on Tuesday night at the 66-year-old senator’s Paris home. Prosecutors said the two were not in an intimate relationship.