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PARIS - Police raided the offices of the financial advisor to the richest woman in France on Friday as part of a growing scandal that includes allegations that it illegally gave money to the presidential campaign Nicolas Sarkozy.Three police vans arrived at the headquarters of Patrice de Maistre, Chief Financial Advisor L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt. They isolate the modern building in the suburb of Paris, Neuilly-sur-Seine where Sarkozy was mayor of the length, and officers came and went.
French authorities are looking into Bettencourt's foreign bank accounts and tax file. Separately, French prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation this week into claims that she secretly gave euro150,000 to Sarkozy's party during his 2007 presidential election campaign.The claims, which are unproven and which Sarkozy denies, are part of a large and growing scandal that has destabilized Sarkozy's conservative government and helped push the president's approval ratings to new lows among French voters squeezed by the global economic crisis.
De Maistre has been at the heart of the affair, which stemmed from an inheritance dispute between Bettencourt and her daughter.De Maistre recently acknowledged that Bettencourt had tens of millions of euros in foreign bank accounts.Sarkozy has sought to crack down on tax havens and wealthy French taxpayers with assets abroad.A preliminary inquiry was opened Friday regarding tape recordings allegedly made by one of Bettencourt's butlers concerning bank accounts in Switzerland, the prosecutor's office said.
PARIS - Police raided the offices of the financial advisor to the richest woman in France on Friday as part of a growing scandal that includes allegations that it illegally gave money to the presidential campaign Nicolas Sarkozy.Three police vans arrived at the headquarters of Patrice de Maistre, Chief Financial Advisor L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt. They isolate the modern building in the suburb of Paris, Neuilly-sur-Seine where Sarkozy was mayor of the length, and officers came and went.
French authorities are looking into Bettencourt's foreign bank accounts and tax file. Separately, French prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation this week into claims that she secretly gave euro150,000 to Sarkozy's party during his 2007 presidential election campaign.The claims, which are unproven and which Sarkozy denies, are part of a large and growing scandal that has destabilized Sarkozy's conservative government and helped push the president's approval ratings to new lows among French voters squeezed by the global economic crisis.
De Maistre has been at the heart of the affair, which stemmed from an inheritance dispute between Bettencourt and her daughter.De Maistre recently acknowledged that Bettencourt had tens of millions of euros in foreign bank accounts.Sarkozy has sought to crack down on tax havens and wealthy French taxpayers with assets abroad.A preliminary inquiry was opened Friday regarding tape recordings allegedly made by one of Bettencourt's butlers concerning bank accounts in Switzerland, the prosecutor's office said.
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