L'affaire Bettencourt draws President Sarkozy further in

FRENCH president Nicolas Sarkozy is fighting off accusations that he was among several prominent politicians who regularly pocketed secret cash payments during visits to the home of L'Oréal heiress Lilian Bettencourt.

• Socialist deputies leave the hemicycle during the weekly session of questions to the government, at the French National Assembly in Paris. Picture: Getty

A former accountant to France's richest woman yesterday said Mr Sarkozy was given bank notes, placed in manila envelopes, at the end of dinner parties. "It generally took place in one of the small, ground-floor salons close to the dining room. Everyone in the household knew that Sarkozy also saw the Bettencourts for money. He was a regular visitor, " Claire Thibout told French investigative website Mediapart.

Ms Thibout, 52, also alleged that, in March, 2007 - two months before the presidential election - Ms Bettencourt's chief financial adviser asked her to prepare a secret cash payment of €150,000 for Mr Sarkozy's campaign fund manager, now French Labour minister, Eric Woerth.

Payments to right-wing politicians were allegedly frequently organised by Ms Bettencourt's husband Andr, a former minister under de Gaulle, who died in November, 2007.

The claims are the most serious yet among a series of sensational revelations and allegations that have transformed into a major affair of state what began as an unseemly legal battle between 87 year-old Ms Bettencourt, whose fortune is estimated at €16 billion, and her daughter Franoise. They have rocked Mr Sarkozy's ruling UMP party, whose leading members - including former prime minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin - yesterday called on the president to "swiftly" mount a public defence of himself and Mr Woerth.

At the heart of the scandal is a lawsuit launched by Franoise, Ms Bettencourt's only child, against a French high-society dandy, Franois-Marie Banier, who she accuses of abusing her mother's mental frailty to con her into gifting him with cash, insurance policies and artworks worth almost a billion euros. Liliane, who denies any senility and describes herself as "a free woman", backs her "outgoing" friend Mr Banier against her "jealous" daughter. Ms Thibout, along with several other domestic staff, was sacked by Liliane shortly after she and they gave police statements unfavourable to Mr Banier.

However, the contents of secret tape recordings by the matriarch's butler, revealed last month by Mediapart, clearly show Liliane's actions to be largely dictated by a cabal of advisers with access to the president and his ministers, who siphoned part of her fortune into secret Swiss bank accounts, arranged for Mr Banier to become proprietor of her Seychelles island Arros, while also begging gifts for themselves.

"They are behind Claire Thibout's sacking, and I believe Liliane Bettencourt is surpassed by events," Ms Thibout's lawyer, Antoine Gillot, said. He added Ms Thibout decided to reveal what she knew after Liliane's lawyer accused her of stealing documents, which she denies.

Ms Bettencourt's butler Pascal Bonnefoy said he taped the conversations between his mistress and her fiscal lawyer, financial advisor and solicitor - as well as Mr Banier - in disgust at their "abuse" of her. Extracts reveal apparent presidential intervention to have the case against Mr Banier blocked. At stake is a court case that threatens to unravel the details of Ms Bettencourt's finances, and the future of cosmetics giant L'Oral, a French industrial jewel owned by Liliane but which Nestl, a minority shareholder, is eyeing for takeover.

On one tape, Patrice de Maistre, Bettencourt's financial manager and general director of her holding company Tthys, a(pparently tells Ms Bettancourt he hired Ms Woerth's wife, Florence, as an investment adviser upon the minister's express demand. Mr Woerth, who was then Mr Sarkozy's budget minister, decorated de Maistre shortly afterwards with the Legion d'honneur, France's highest civil order.

Florence Woerth stood down from her job last month amid suspicion she was aware of Ms Bettencourt's secret Swiss accounts. But her husband, who was moved from the job as France's chief taxman to the post of minister in charge of negotiating pension system reforms, has so far resisted calls for his resignation.

Both Mr Sarkozy and Mr Woerth yesterday denied Ms Thibout's allegations.

The issue sparked a stormy session of parliament yesterday, with opposition Socialist MPs demanding answers, then walking out.

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