Sarkozy denies fresh claims he took illegal L’Oreal election donations

French President Nicolas Sarkozy’s has denied new claims that he took undeclared campaign cash from the heiress to the L’Oreal cosmetics fortune five years ago, just as the race for next year’s presidential elections is heating up.

Mr Sarkozy’s allies suggested the accusations are a campaign ploy against the unpopular president. Similar accusations first surfaced last year. But questions about how Mr Sarkozy financed his 2007 campaign could hit his likely bid for re-election in April and May. Critics have long deemed the conservative leader was too cosy with the rich.

The leader of France’s main opposition party, Socialist Martine Aubry, called for a new investigation into whether Mr Sarkozy received illegal campaign cash from Liliane Bettencourt, Europe’s richest woman.

An accountant for Ms Bettencourt said a year ago that she gave €50,000 in cash in 2007 to Mr Sarkozy’s party treasurer for the campaign – well beyond the legal limit on individual donations.