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Police to question L'Oreal heiress as feud risks destabilising business
Source: BI-ME with agencies , Author: Posted by BI-ME staff
Posted: Sat July 24, 2010 11:24 pm
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INTERNATIONAL. French police will question L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt next week, the latest development in a long-running legal case brought by her own daughter, her entourage said on Saturday.

Bettencourt, 87, France's richest woman, will be questioned at her home following the request made by the prosecutor's office in the Paris suburb of Nanterre, a member of her entourage told AFP Saturday.

Currently on holiday in Spain, Bettencourt will return "at the start of the week and will be questioned by finance police, probably at her home" in the the well-to-do Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine.

Her daughter, Francoise Bettencourt-Myers, has initiated legal action claiming that her mother is no longer mentally competent to run her own affairs and is being manipulated the people around her.

She accuses society photographer Francois-Marie Banier of using undue influence to get her mother to give him paintings, money and insurance policies worth nearly one billion euros (US$1.29 billion)

The elder Bettencourt -- whose father founded L'Oreal, the world's biggest beauty and cosmetics company -- denies she was manipulated, and accuses her daughter of "vile doggedness" and impatience to get her hands on her fortune.

Last week L’Oreal posted financial results reaffirming the group’s financial recovery, but family feuding and scandal might destabilize the position, Bettencourt claims.

The 87-year old heiress, who is also Europe’s richest woman, claims that a bitter feud with her daughter, Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers may put future ownership of the business in the balance, reported Cosmeticsdesign-europe, citing a statement from the heiress.

“I hope my daughter will not destabilise the group which I and my father have wanted to be French,” Bettencourt said in a statement issued by her spokesperson.

On Thursday, a French judge rejected a request by her daughter to place Bettencourt under legal guardianship, judicial officials said.

Police have now opened three investigations involving Bettencourt, following allegations of tax evasion and of illegal donations to President Nicolas Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign -- charges that all parties have denied.

Police will also interview Labour Minister Eric Woerth, a former treasurer of Sarkozy's political party, who has vehemently denied suggestions that he received illegal cash donations from Bettencourt.

Big shareholders and L'Oreal's workers appear eager to maintain its family-controlled structure, its cosmetics focus — and its Frenchness.

Bettencourt still holds a 31% stake in the business, which she inherited from her father, who established the L’Oreal name in 1909.

Losing L'Oreal would be a blow to France, a nation as renowned for its beauty secrets as it is determined to remain a global economic player.

 

MIDDLE EAST BUSINESS COMMENT & ANALYSIS

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