L’Oreal heiress questioned

POLICE questioned France’s richest woman yesterday about suspected tax evasion and money laundering, her lawyer said, in a scandal that has shaken the government.

L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt, 87, was expected to be asked to explain two undeclared Swiss bank accounts and an island in the Seychelles which were mentioned on secret recordings made by a former butler and published in the French press.

She may also be quizzed about allegations by a former bookkeeper that Bettencourt and her late husband made big illegal cash donations to conservative politicians, including Labour Minister Eric Woerth for President Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign.