THE Swiss government declared renowned film director Roman Polanski a free man yesterday after rejecting a US request to extradite him on a charge of having sex in 1977 with a 13-year-old girl.

RECORDINGS of L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt’s conversations about political dealings and Swiss bank accounts may play a key role at a trial over whether the 87-year-old was manipulated into giving a friend about €1 billion in gifts.

A DEFIANT Roman Polanski yesterday vowed to fight US attempts to extradite him from a Swiss jail cell to be sentenced for having sex with an underage girl 32 years ago.