Wealth Manager

Thibout said she had not handed the money to Woerth personally but had given it to Bettencourt's wealth manager, who had told her he would make the handover.

Woerth's wife worked for the wealth manager until last month. He has already denied any conflict of interest between his roles as party treasurer and budget minister until March.

The wealth manager, Patrice de Maistre, was questioned by police on Tuesday and flatly denied Thibout's version of events, a spokesman for the Nanterre public prosecutor said.

Leading members of Sarkozy's party urged the president to bring forward a reshuffle planned for October and broadcast to the nation before he goes on his summer holiday on July 14.

Two junior ministers resigned on Sunday after being accused of wasting taxpayers' money on cigars and a private jet.

"The president says he is in control of the timing, but Woerth is more and more under fire. It's becoming politically difficult," UMP lawmaker Jacques Myard told Reuters.

Another UMP parliamentarian, Marie-Anne Montchamp, said: "We are stuck in a crisis. There needs to be a reshuffle, and fast."

Mediapart, which broke news last month of secret recordings of conversations between Bettencourt and her wealth manager, quoted the bookkeeper as saying Sarkozy had been one of several politicians who regularly received envelopes of cash directly from the billionairess and her late husband while Sarkozy was mayor of the Paris suburb of Neuilly in the 1980s and 90s.

Asked about this allegation, an official in Sarkozy's office said: "That's totally false."

Envelopes

Mediapart quoted Thibout, whom it identified only as Claire T., as saying she had collected large sums in cash from a bank in Paris's 16th district over many years, which the Bettencourts used to give to politicians who visited them at their villa in the exclusive suburb.

"Politicians were constantly marching through the house, especially at election time ... They all came to pick up their envelopes, sometimes as much as 100,000 euros, or even 200,000 euros," the bookkeeper was quoted as saying.

She said Sarkozy had been a regular visitor when he was mayor, and she had overheard their conversations because the Bettencourts were quite deaf and he had to speak loudly.

"Nicolas Sarkozy used to get his envelope too. It happened in one of the little ground floor salons next to the dining room. It usually happened after the meal," Mediapart quoted Claire T. as saying. "Again, everyone in the house knew that Sarkozy too went to see the Bettencourts to pick up money."

"Dede (Andre Bettencourt) liked to spread it around widely."