THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: The French court case pitting the daughter of Liliane Bettencourt, the country's richest woman, against a photographer who received an £825m gift has fascinated the country.
It was the climax to an extraordinary week surrounding France's richest women. Liliane Bettencourt's compatriots had watched astounded as the evidence unfolded in the court case brought by her daughter against the photographer on whom she has showered almost €1bn (£825m).
They learned how the 87-year-old L'Oreal [sic] heiress was bugged by her butler with a tape recorder hidden among the bone china brought to her office; how she had not spoken to her estranged daughter, Francoise Meyers-Bettencourt, for years; and how Mrs Bettencourt had kept a Seychelles island and €80 million (£66 million) hidden from the tax man.
Francois-Marie Banier, 63, the society dandy and recipient of her largesse, is accused of taking advantage of the elderly dowager's frailty to persuade her to hand over a fortune - though far less than she had long ago bestowed on her daughter.
But among the accusations and pure theatre surrounding the one-day court hearing, now adjourned, came a genuine bombshell for the French government: the revelation that, amidst all her apparent tax evasion, it had granted her a €30 million (£25 million) tax rebate - despite not having examined her financial affairs for more than a decade.
And to cap it all, the rebate was allegedly signed off by a minister whose wife worked for the billionaire.
Employment minister Eric Woerth, whose wife helped manage Mrs Bettencourt's financial affairs, and who was budget minister at the time the rebate was paid, stood firm against calls for his resignation.
No, he had done nothing wrong, he responded. No, he had not signed the heiress's tax rebate. No, he would not resign. Mrs Bettencourt had been given the rebate under the "tax shield" introduced by President Nicolas Sarkozy that puts a 50 per cent ceiling on the taxes citizens pay on their income and combined assets. It was perfectly legal.
But critics of the close relationship between the French state and some of its wealthiest citizens questioned how the authorities could be so relaxed. >>> Kim Willsher in Paris | Sunday, July 04, 2010
VALEURS ACTUELLES: Les enregistrements clandestins effectués par son majordome, mais aussi son interrogatoire par la police en disent long sur l’influence déterminante exercée par son entourage.
Qui aurait pu imaginer que l’affaire Bettencourt, qui n’était au départ que le roman sinistre d’un abus de faiblesse de la mère dénoncé par sa fille, se transforme en une affaire d’État donnant lieu aux pires soupçons ? Soupçons d’intervention de l’Élysée dans le cours de la justice. Soupçons de mansuétude fiscale visant l’ancien ministre du Budget, Éric Woerth. Soupçons de conflit d’intérêts entre celui-ci et son épouse, salariée de la société de gestion de fortune de la propriétaire de L’Oréal et première contribuable de France.
Plus de deux ans après le début de cette affaire, Françoise Meyers, née Bettencourt, campe plus que jamais sur ses positions : oui, dit-elle, François-Marie Banier, le photographe écrivain, en recevant de Mme Bettencourt près de un milliard d’euros depuis 1997 sous forme de tableaux, d’assurance vie, etc., a profité de l’état de faiblesse de sa mère. >>> Gilles Gaetner | Jeudi 01 Juillet 2010
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