FRENCH LABOUR minister Eric Woerth is expected to be questioned in the coming days by police investigating the tax affairs of L’Oréal heiress Liliane Bettencourt.
The cabinet has formally authorised police to question the minister as a witness in their inquiry into allegations of illicit campaign financing and conflict of interest.
Mr Woerth’s wife, Florence, was questioned earlier this week, and the minister has said he would welcome the opportunity to put on record his strong denial of wrongdoing.
Despite being cleared by an official report of any interference in Ms Bettencourt’s tax affairs when he was budget minister, Mr Woerth continues to face allegations that he used his influence to secure a position for his wife with a company that manages part of Ms Bettencourt’s fortune.
He denies this along with a separate claim that he received illegal cash donations for president Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign from Ms Bettencourt, who is at the centre of an investigation into alleged tax evasion and money laundering.
Mr Woerth said the police interview was “a normal procedure” that wouldn’t disrupt the work he was assigned by Mr Sarkozy to steer a controversial pension reform through parliament.
French law says prosecutors need government permission to seek to question the prime minister or a cabinet member.
Mr Woerth has been under intense pressure for the past month following the release of secret recordings apparently showing advisers to Ms Bettencourt, who is France’s richest woman, discussing undeclared bank accounts in foreign tax havens.
The 87-year-old billionaire has said in a television interview she intends to repatriate the money and declare it.
The minister’s wife worked for a firm that gave financial advice to Ms Bettencourt, sparking accusations of a conflict of interest. Speaking after her questioning, however, Ms Woerth’s lawyer, Antoine Beauquier, said there was no such conflict of interest and no intervention to get her hired in the first place.
As the saga rumbled on yesterday, the prosecutor leading three separate inquiries linked to the Bettencourt case, Philippe Courroye, gave an interview to Le Figaro in which he dismissed criticism made against him in recent weeks.
Mr Courroye, a friend of Mr Sarkozy, has been accused by opposition politicians of being too close to the executive to carry out an independent investigation. “I’m very well used to criticism,” he said. “I am not a man to bow to pressure . . . If a prosecution needs to be opened before a court, it will be.”
Sensing that Mr Sarkozy has been damaged by recent events, meanwhile, the opposition has kept up the pressure on the government. Jean-Marc Ayrault, president of the Socialist Party in the National Assembly, said Mr Woerth’s questioning was “necessary, but not a surprise” and called for an independent investigating magistrate to be appointed to look into the Bettencourt affair.
Whereas a prosecutor was answerable to the justice ministry, a magistrate would be “more efficient and impartial” and would give French people greater confidence.
Despite the unrelenting negative coverage in recent weeks, however, a majority of voters believe Mr Woerth is still in a position to drive an overhaul of the pension system, according to the latest poll taken for Le Point magazine.