The Philippine Online Chronicles

Money and power gravitate towards each other; it is perhaps the natural order of things. In France today these two are more than happy to share the same bed, but the people are getting restless in their antics.

It is easy to forget this is a country whose citizens have beheaded aristocrats and kings. Having recently observed the Republic's national day, the French are currently in no mood to party. The skies wept on the annual parade and there was none of the usual flag-waving. One after the other, scandals continue to buffet Nicolas Sarkozy’s government. He now bears the infamy of having the lowest approval rating of any French head of state. A recent poll by newspaper Libération says 64 percent of the people thought their leaders were corrupt.

First there was the alleged profligate spending of two cabinet officials on a jet plane ride and Cuban cigars. At a time when the country is at the tail-end of the global recession, mere allegations of public funds misspent precipitated a highly unflattering public opinion. Their subsequent resignations could not arrest the political tide against the administration. The news came just as the President was busy pontificating about the merits of fiscal austerity.

Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, secretary-general of the main opposition the Socialist Party, claims that the resignations were an attempt to keep key cabinet member, Labor Minister Eric Woerth. Woerth was embroiled in a tax evasion scandal involving France’s richest woman, L'Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt. The Radical Party of the Left, on the other hand, has called for the dissolution of the National Assembly. Meanwhile, French financial daily Les Échos reported the state had lost €100 billion in revenues due to tax cuts and poor collection. In the run-up to the 2012 elections, all players are jockeying for position and every little whiff of wrong-doing can be used as leverage.

Now the country's political crisis continues to widen in a near-soap operatic scale. It is a scandal of multiple levels - a rift between a daughter and his mother who has been too generous with a younger companion, the future of the French cosmetic giant L'Oreal, and the role played by Woerth in raising election funds for his party.

The associations may not be enough to make any conclusions, but for those fond of connecting the dots, proximity provides enough ammunition. Last month Bettencourt's ex-butler released recordings which suggested efforts to evade taxation. The tapes indicated moving USD100 million into Swiss bank accounts in favor of Bettencourt's friend photographer François-Marie Banier. Bettencourt's daughter Françoise Bettencourt-Meyers had earlier sued Banier, ostensibly for duping her 87 year-old mother of USD1 billion worth of gifts. Bettencourt-Meyers has also asked a judge to declare her mother incompetent to manager her fortune which is estimated at more than USD20 billion.

This month a former accountant claims Bettencourt's campaign contribution to Sarkozy's presidential bid in 2007 exceeded the legal limit. Woerth is said to have received USD190,000 from Bettencourt, far beyond the cap at USD9,500. This becomes more problematic as Woerth is also the treasurer of Sarkozy's Union for Popular Movement party and was in charge of campaign fundraising. His wife Florence Woerth works for a firm handling Bettencourt's finances.

Monday last week Sarkozy addressed the nation on national television, denouncing allegations of wrong-doing against his Labor Minsiter as slanderous. He said the attacks on Woerth were prompted by those opposing a major policy change in retirement age, moving it from 60 to 62. Sarkozy also denied having received illegal contributions from Bettencourt.

While Woerth has indeed been cleared in the investigations over l’affaire L’Oréal, he is now charged with new allegations. Under his watch as budget minister back in March, a government-owned horse-racing track and the property around it had allegedly been sold at an eight of its value. The property has an estimated value of €20 million but was sold at only €2.5 million. The Finance Ministry insisted that the transaction was in order and Woerth dismissed the allegations as ridiculous.

This Saturday Bettencourt's finance manager Patrick de Maistre reportedly told police that he hired Woerth's wife after an audience with the minister. De Maistre and three close associates of Bettencourt were released Friday after questioning by the police over the tax evasion scandal. The meeting itself may not be enough evidence of any wrongdoing on Woerth’s part, but now that the French press have scented blood they are unlikely to back off from Sarkozy’s Labor Minister. With scandal after scandal dogging Woerth’s steps, observers wonder why Sarkozy has not yet insisted on his resignation – a dangerous line of thought indeed.

The past few months the developments have been dizzyingly swift. France’s is in the grip of its first titillating scandal in recent decades. And the French public is a captive audience unable to look away from the sordid underbelly of that sphere in which money and power blissfully co-mingle.