Nicolas Sarkozy's party office visited by police in Liliane Bettencourt inquiry

L'Oreal family feud has led to series of investigations concerning political donations, tax evasion and money laundering

French police visited President Nicolas Sarkozy's party headquarters this week in an investigation into political donations and the financial affairs of Europe's richest woman, a police spokesman said today.

The visit yesterday marked the first time that Sarkozy's ruling UMP party had been directly targeted by inquiries into the affair since they began in June.

The spokesman said police were tracing a letter sent in 2007 by Labour minister Eric Woerth, then UMP party treasurer, to the then interior minister, Sarkozy, backing the granting of a national award to a man who was wealth manager for L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt and who employed Woerth's wife.

The party confirmed the police visit but said it did not amount to a raid.

"The police came to our office yesterday to seek information. We agreed to open our doors," a UMP spokeswoman said, declining to elaborate on the police requests.

What began as a family feud between Bettencourt and her daughter has exploded into a series of investigations concerning political donations, suspected tax evasion and money laundering.

Woerth, a close Sarkozy ally, who is also in charge of seeing a disputed pension reform through parliament, has acknowledged that he intervened on Patrice de Maistre's behalf concerning the prestigious Legion d'Honneur title.

Woerth has been under pressure to resign since it emerged that his wife worked for the Bettencourt wealth manager amid broader allegations that he handled funds used for Sarkozy's 2007 election campaign.

Woerth and Maistre have repeatedly denied the allegations and Woerth insists his involvement in the Legion d'Honneur was nothing more than routine business for a member of parliament.

Maistre received the Legion d'Honneur in early 2008, two months after Woerth's wife was recruited to work at the firm Clymene, which manages Bettencourt's vast fortune.