Paris okays questioning of labour minister in Bettencourt case

PARIS - The French government Wednesday officially approved permitting investigators to question Labour Minister Eric Woerth in the scandal involving alleged illegal contributions by L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt.

A date for the questioning has not yet been set.

The development came after investigators had questioned Woerth’s wife Florence in the case. She had drawn their attention over how she came to her high-paid position in a firm managing part of Bettencourt’s fortune.

On Tuesday, Woerth insisted he would not resign amid several criminal investigations.

He has been accused in recent weeks of accepting illegal political contributions, of closing an eye to the alleged tax evasions of and of using his influence as minister to land his wife the job with its 200,000-euro (about $256,000) annual salary.

Florence Woerth has in the meantime given up the position. She said she had underestimated the conflict of interest it posed with the ministry position her husband held.

That remark conflicted with Eric Woerth’s insistence that there had ever been a conflict of interest.

Tuesday, Woerth repeated his claim that he never had a hand in his wife’s being hired by Bettencourt’s personal money manager, Patrice de Maistre.

However, Maistre has on at least two occasions said that Florence Woerth was hired after her husband, then budget minister, asked him to help.

Woerth has denied any conflict of interest in the ongoing saga, in which his wife worked as a tax advisor to Bettencourt while he was budget minister and therefore headed the tax and revenue department in the French government.

Bettencourt is suspected of having avoided paying millions in taxes by transferring large sums of money to foreign banks.

Woerth is also alleged to have received an illegal donation of 150,000 euros from Bettencourt for President Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential campaign. He was treasurer of Sarkozy’s UMP party at the time, a position he said he would resign.

Sarkozy has repeatedly defended Woerth, who is piloting his crucial reform of the French pension system through parliament.