French police question L’Oreal heiress

Police probing a financial scandal that has rocked President Nicolas Sarkozy’s government questioned France’s richest woman, L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, yesterday, her lawyer said.

Fraud squad officers questioned the 87-year-old billionaire for two hours at her home in the chic Paris suburb of Neuilly, lawyer Georges Kiejman told reporters, but shed little light on her alleged links to members of Mr Sarkozy’s government.

The questioning focused on her two Swiss bank accounts and an island in the Seychelles and also touched on her alleged ties to Labour Minister Eric Woerth, who is at the centre of a scandal that has embarrassed the government.

Secret recordings of conversations between Ms Bettencourt and her financial advisor appear to show that she had sought to use the Swiss accounts to escape French taxes, while the true ownership of the island is unclear.

The tapes – made by a butler and leaked to the media – also suggest that Ms Bettencourt was a generous donor to Mr Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign and to a political association run by his top fundraiser, Mr Woerth.

Mr Kiejman said Ms Bettencourt recalled dining with Mr Woerth, but “concerning the financing of political parties, she confirmed it was never a focus of interest for her, but rather for her husband,” Andre Bettencourt, who died in 2007.

Yesterday’s questioning “was about memories that are in some cases very old and my client had not necessarily kept the details in mind”, the lawyer said.