Florence Woerth was recruited by heiress Bettencourt at a time when her husband was a treasurer of the ruling conservative UMP party. The minister denied he had any influence on the recruitment of his wife.
Police questioned the wife of labour inister Eric Woerth on Wednesday about how she came to work for a firm managing the fortune of France's richest woman, after allegations that her husband had intervened in her favour.
President Nicolas Sarkozy's cabinet, meanwhile, agreed to the prosecutor's request to question Woerth in an investigation into alleged money laundering and tax evasion involving L'Oreal cosmetics heiress Liliane Bettencourt.
Meanwhile, the prosecutor in the case, Philippe Courroye, denied suggestions that he had come under political pressure from the government to sweep his investigation under the carpet.
"I am not a man to bow to pressure. If a prosecution needs to be opened before a court, it will be," he told Le Figaro newspaper in an interview due to be published on Thursday.
Florence Woerth was recruited in 2007 by Bettencourt's wealth manager at a time when her husband was budget minister in charge of a crackdown on tax evasion and simultaneously treasurer of the ruling conservative UMP party.
The wealth manager, Patrice de Maistre, told police last week that Eric Woerth had asked him to meet his wife and advice her on career, according to a partial transcript of his testimony published by the newspaper Le Monde.
The minister denied on Tuesday that he had any influence on the recruitment of his wife. "I never asked that my wife be employed. Never, never, never," he told Europe 1 radio.
The matter was brought to light by secret recordings made by Bettencourt's butler as evidence in a separate lawsuit in which the billionaire's daughter, Francois Meyers-Bettencourt, is seeking to have her 87-year-old mother declared mentally irresponsible and be made a ward of court.
The recordings appeared to show Bettencourt's legal and financial advisers discussing undeclared bank accounts in Switzerland and the Seychelles. On one of the tapes, De Maistre is heard to say he recruited Florence Woerth to please the minister, according to published transcripts.
Florence Woerth's lawyer, Antoine Beauquier, told reporters his client had told police ‘she could not imagine that [her husband had intervened] because he never participated in his wife's career’.
She quit the job in June, saying in a newspaper interview that she had underestimated the potential conflict of interest.
Prime minister Francois Fillon and Sarkozy's chief-of-staff, Claude Gueant, have said Woerth did not commit any offence since the finance ministry's tax inspectorate has concluded that he did not interfere in any way in Bettencourt's tax affairs.
Woerth has also denied allegations by former Bettencourt bookkeeper, Claire Thibout, that he received an illegal cash donation from the heiress and her late husband for Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign.
The minister filed a case for slander following Thibout's allegations, and judicial sources said on Wednesday a preliminary investigation had been opened into his complaint.
Thibout told police she had not seen the handover herself but had been told that the money she had withdrawn from the bank was destined for Woerth, her lawyer said.
Under fresh questioning by a judge, Thibout acknowledged having received €400,000 ($516,000) from Bettencourt's daughter in addition to a €500,000 severance payment from the heiress, the lawyer said.
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