Bettencourt - Woerth - Sarkozy

November 2009

-Francoise Meyers-Bettencourt accuses Francois-Marie Banier of elder abuse on her mother, Liliane Bettencourt, 84 yo, richest woman in France (she owns l'Oréal). Banier is a photographer as well as a "friend" of the Bettencourts, and he received around 1 billions of goods from her.

-A list of tax avoiders is leaked from the HSBC bank. Eric woerth, Budget Minister - Treasurer of the UMP (Sarkozy's party), says they have until December 31th to declare their revenue.

February 2010

A judge (whose name is Courroye) dismisses the Bettencourt-Banier case.

May 2010

Woerth is now the Minister of social affairs AND the treasurer of the UMP.

An ex-employee of Bettencourt, her butler, reveals one year-worth of illegal recordings. He gives them to Mediapart, an internet journal founded by the ex-director of Le Monde (the french Times). They mainly involve the old Bettencourt and her estate manager, Patrice de Maistres. Several points arise :

-Florence Woerth, Eric Woerth's wife, has been hired by De Maistres based on the fact her husband was the Budget Minister.

-The old bettencourt has several, undeclared, millions in a swiss bank.

-De Maistres asked Sarkozy to take care of the Banier-Bettencourt case.

The right wing accuses Mediapart of using fascist methods. They also attack Plenel, Mediapart's redactor in chief, on the basis of his Trotskyist past.

June 2010

Claire Thibout, Bettencourt's ex-bookkeeper, contacts Mediapart and states that De Maistres gave an envelope containing 50 000 euros to Woerth for Sarkozy's campaign (the law allows donations up to 7000€). Traces of the withdrawal are found by the enquetors at one of Bettencourt's bank, at the date mentioned by Thibout.

Thibout is interrogated by the police. Accounts of the examination are quickly leaked. They state that Thibout said "Mediapart novelized my vision of the facts", and that allegedly she never mentioned Sarkozy and Woerth's names. The right wing claims that the truth has been re-established, but the following day, Thibout's lawyer says that her client doesn't go back over her declarations to Mediapart and that the accounts leak have been organized by the government.

Woerth resigns from his treasurer job but he's still minister.

Courroye (the bettencourt-banier case judge) is now in charge of the whole investigation although his name is clearly mentioned in the recordings. Lawyers associations demand an independent judge.

July 2010

Some employees of Bettencourt bring new lights on the case. Some of them claim to have seen the envelopes, and they say De Maistres used post-it notes a lot. For instance, he made the old Bettencourt learn what she had to say prior to a meeting with Sarkozy. Something like : "I have always helped you, and will always help you. Can you do something for my problems with my daughter ?" (just before Courroye dismissed the Banier-Bettencourt case). De Maistres would also leave notes in Bettencourt's purse with the word "guardianship" written on them, just to remind her she had to cooperate. The employees also say that Banier and De Maistres were used to ask for "gifts" to the old woman. (a boat, an island, etc…).

Reading the title of the topic I already knew a french guy wrote it.

Such a funny affair !