French minister admits role in Legion of Honour boost

Sep 2, 2010, 11:51 GMT

Paris - Embattled French Labour Minister Eric Woerth admitted Thursday that, contrary to his previous statements, he recommended to Nicolas Sarkozy that Liliane Bettencourt's financial adviser be given the Legion of Honour, the website Liberation.fr reported.

The admission came two days after the weekly L'Express reported on its website that it had seen a letter Woerth had written to Sarkozy in March 2007 urging that Patrice de Maistre, who manages the fortune of France's richest woman, be given the distinction.

At the time, Sarkozy was interior minister and Woerth a lawmaker in the National Assembly.

Woerth himself decorated Maistre with the Legion of Honour at a ceremony in January 2008, when Sarkozy was president, and three months after the financier gave Woerth's wife a high-paying job with his company.

Asked Thursday at a press conference if the letter existed, Woerth said, 'Yes, it exists.'

But he defended himself by saying that he only did what many other lawmakers also did.

'What conclusions should be drawn?' he said. 'It's a big banality.'

However, Woerth has repeatedly denied, both in public and to police, that he had a hand in Maistre receiving the Legion of Honour.

On Tuesday, after the existence of the letter was reported, he told journalists, 'I have already said it, I will say it again, I have done nothing wrong, I did not lie. I did not lie to the police, I did not lie to the French people.'

It was unclear if Woerth's admission would have consequences for his job. Sarkozy has steadfastly supported his minister, who is charged with steering the president's crucial pension reform bill through Parliament.

Woerth is suspected of accepting 150,000 euros (192,000 dollars) in illegal contributions from Maistre for Sarkozy's 2007 presidential campaign, at about the same time he wrote the Legion of Honour letter.

He is also alleged to have used his influence, when he was budget minister, to procure the job for his wife at Maistre's firm.