PARIS - Police on Thursday questioned the French labour minister about his relationship with the billionaire L'Oreal cosmetics heiress in an investigation into a scandal that has reached the highest levels of President Nicolas Sarkozy's government.
Opposition lawmakers are demanding Eric Woerth resign from the government. They accuse him of being involved in illegal financing and tax evasion as treasurer for Sarkozy's political party and of a conflict of interest because his wife worked as an investment adviser to the heiress, Liliane Bettencourt, the wealthiest woman in Europe.
Police questioned Woerth during an interview at the Labor Ministry that began Thursday morning and ended in the late afternoon. Woerth's lawyers were expected to speak with reporters later in the day, but the minister and Sarkozy have previously denied the claims.
Prosecutors are investigating several facets of the complex case. Secret tapes recorded by Bettencourt's ex-butler and made public in leaks to the media suggested that she hid millions of euros in Swiss bank accounts to avoid paying taxes, and led to allegations of tax evasion and illegal financing of Sarkozy's conservative party in the run-up to the 2007 presidential election.
Woerth's name was cited in the recordings, which suggest that the minister pressured the heiress' financial team into hiring his wife. Florence Woerth worked as an investment adviser for Bettencourt from 2007 to the end of June 2010, resigning after the scandal broke.
The couple have denied any conflict of interest, and a French financial investigation agency has said Woerth did not intervene in Bettencourt's tax files.
Woerth has long been treasurer of Sarkozy's party, but he has submitted his resignation, which will be effective at the end of July.
Florence Woerth was questioned a week ago as a witness into a separate investigation into the tapes. Her lawyer, Antoine Beauquier, said after her questioning that there was no conflict of interest and no intervention to get her hired.
A former accountant, Clair Thibout, accused Woerth of clandestine financing in January 2007 of Sarkozy's presidential campaign. She claimed the man handling Bettencourt's fortune, Patrice de Maistre of the Clymene company, asked for €150,000 for Woerth. Sarkozy denies the claims and calls it part of a smear campaign.
The 87-year-old Bettencourt, Europe's richest woman according to Forbes, has a fortune estimated at $20 billion, and is one of France's biggest taxpayers. Bettencourt herself was questioned Monday at her home in the posh Paris suburb of Neuilly.
On Wednesday, police searched the home of Bettencourt's daughter. Francoise Meyers-Bettencourt accuses photographer Francois-Marie Banier of abusing her mother's alleged mental frailty — and bilking the elder heiress out of €1 billion in cash, artworks and other gifts. That case touched off the broader scandal.
