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4 Questioned in Widening French Scandal

15 July 2010 20:38 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Police officers investigating allegations of tax evasion and illegal political donations by the heiress to the Lâ€™OrÃ©al fortune, Liliane Bettencourt, detained her wealth manager, former tax lawyer, a property manager and her close companion, a celebrity photographer, for questioning on Thursday, APA reports quoting The New York Times.
The scandal has touched the government of President Nicolas Sarkozy, after news emerged of tapes made secretly by Mrs. Bettencourtâ€™s former butler that suggested efforts to evade taxes and a former accountant for her said that envelopes of cash were given to the Labor minister, Ã‰ric Woerth, who is also the treasurer of Mr. Sarkozyâ€™s party, for the 2007 presidential campaign.
Mr. Woerth, Mr. Sarkozy and lawyers for Mrs. Bettencourt have denied all wrongdoing. However Mr. Woerth, at the presidentâ€™s urging, has said he will resign as party treasurer at the end of this month. Mr. Woerthâ€™s wife, Florence, has also quit her job as a financial adviser to Mrs. Bettencourt.
The four people detained Thursday were being questioned at the Paris office of the financial crimes unit, and could be held up to 48 hours before the police must decide whether to press charges or not. They are Mrs. Bettencourtâ€™s financial adviser, Patrice de Maistre; her former tax lawyer, Fabrice Goguel; celebrity photographer FranÃ§ois-Marie Banier; and Carlos Vejarano, the manager of an island in the Seychelles that some evidence suggests Mrs. Bettencourt used as a tax haven and gave to Mr. Banier. The tapes also indicate that Mrs. Bettencourt approved moving more than $100 million into Swiss bank accounts to avoid French taxes.
The complicated scandal began with a suit by Mrs. Bettencourtâ€™s estranged daughter, FranÃ§oise Bettencourt-Meyers, accusing Mr. Banier of manipulating her mother, 87, into giving him gifts and annuities worth more than $1 billion. Ms. Bettencourt-Meyers has asked a judge to declare her mother incompetent to manage her fortune, estimated at more than $20 billion, while Mrs. Bettencourt has criticized her daughterâ€™s â€œvile doggednessâ€ in a recent television interview.
At this point, police have opened three investigations, while Mrs. Bettencourt said that her records would be open for the police and that she has ordered an â€œindependent audit.â€ The police have also searched the houses and offices of Mrs. Bettencourt, Mr. de Maistre and Mr. Banier.