French L’Oreal heiress says daughter fails to confine her

France's richest woman, at the centre of a scandal over alleged tax evasion, money laundering and illegal political funding, said on Friday she was relieved her daughter had failed to have her made a ward of court.
Liliane Bettencourt, 87, heiress to the L'Oreal cosmetics fortune, demanded an end to what she called harassment by her daughter and intrusions into her private life after a prosecutor blocked a bid to have her declared mentally unfit.
"The exposure of my private life, and of those close to me, and the odious accusations I read every morning are nothing compared to the violence of those who want to lock me away and deprive me of my freedom and hence of my life," she said in a statement.
Public prosecutor Philippe Courroye wrote to Francoise Meyers-Bettencourt, the billionairess's daughter, on Thursday, saying her lawsuit had no chance of acceptance without a medical certificate attesting to her mother's mental state.
The heiress has refused to undergo an independent medical examination but said in the statement she was fully capable of looking after her remaining fortune after having given her daughter and grandchildren her entire shareholding in L'Oreal.
What began as a family feud over lavish gifts by Bettencourt to a close friend, society photographer Francois-Marie Banier, has turned into a political scandal as evidence emerged of undeclared Swiss bank accounts, an island in the Seychelles and alleged large cash donations to conservative politicians.
Labour Minister Eric Woerth is awaiting police questioning over accusations by a former Bettencourt bookkeeper that he received 150,000 euros in cash for President Nicolas Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign. Both men have denied the allegation.
Woerth, who was budget minister in charge of tax affairs and treasurer of the ruling UMP party while his wife worked for Bettencourt's wealth manager, has disputed any conflict of interest and rejected calls to resign.
He says he had no influence on his wife's recruitment and a finance ministry investigation has cleared him of doing Bettencourt any tax favours. Florence Woerth quit her job in June after evidence of the alleged tax evasion was published.