Police last Friday searched the home and office of a financial adviser to France's richest woman as part of a probe into alleged illegal donations to President Nicolas Sarkozy's campaign, officials said.

The search of Patrice de Maistre's residence and firm came a day after police questioned the ex-accountant to Liliane Bettencourt, heiress to the L'Oreal cosmetics empire, about her allegations of cash gifts to Sarkozy.

Prosecutors have opened a preliminary investigation into claims by the accountant of a €150,000 donation from Bettencourt given to Eric Woerth, Sarkozy's campaign fundraiser in 2007 who is now labour minister.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.