L'Oreal heiress's adviser raided by police

POLICE searched the offices of the financial advisor to France's richest woman yesterday as part of a growing scandal that includes allegations she gave cash illegally to President Nicolas Sarkozy's presidential campaign.

Three vans of police officers arrived at the offices of Patrice de Maistre, chief financial adviser to L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt.

They cordoned off the modern office building in the posh Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine, where Mr Sarkozy was long mayor, and officers were coming in and out.

French authorities are looking into Ms Bettencourt's foreign bank accounts and tax file. Separately, French prosecutors opened a preliminary investigation this week into claims that she secretly gave ?150,000 to Mr Sarkozy's party during his 2007 presidential election campaign.

The claims, which are unproven and Mr Sarkozy denies, are part of a growing scandal that has destabilised Mr Sarkozy's conservative government and helped push the president's approval ratings to new lows. Ms de Maistre has been at the heart of the affair, which stemmed from an inheritance dispute between Bettencourt and her daughter. She recently acknowledged that Bettencourt had tens of millions of euros in foreign accounts.