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Witnesses saw Nicolas Sarkozy receiving envelopes full of cash from France's richest woman but were 'too afraid' to say so, it was claimed yesterday. He is said to have received the money from L'Oreal billionaire heiress Lilliane Bettencourt when he was running for president. The accusation is made by Isabelle Prevost-Desprez, who was the judge investigating the so-called 'Bettencourt Affair' – in which the French leader and political allies are said to have received envelopes of cash in return for tax breaks – before being removed from the job. Mrs Prevost-Desprez said she was 'struck' by the 'fear of witnesses' and that 'all were afraid to talk' about Mr Sarkozy. She added: 'One of them, juicy couture outlet off the record, said he had seen Sarko accepting cash.' The witness, she said, was a well-known member of 88-year-old Mrs Bettencourt's inner circle. Her explosive claims are made in a book, called Sarkozy Killed Me, by Gerard Davet and Fabrice Lhomme, journalists on the newspaper Le Monde. Mrs Prevost-Desprez said that after becoming aware of the accusations against the billionaire and Sarkozy, she was certain she was being wire-tapped illegally, but could do nothing about it. Presidents of France are exempt from prosecution while in office, but if the judge's allegations were proved true they would almost certainly lead to a criminal trial once Mr Sarkozy, 56, stepped down. Last year, Claire Thibault, an accountant working for Mrs Bettencourt, said Mr Sarkozy, then mayor of Neuilly, was a regular caller at the house between 1998 and 2002 and 'used to get his envelope too'. Last night a spokesman for the President said the claims were 'scandalous, unfounded and false'.
