PARIS - France will carry out a full review of the tax returns of Europe's richest woman, Liliane Bettencourt, the budget minister announced on Sunday, as a scandal over her finances continued to scar the government.

The fiscal woes of Bettencourt, heiress of the L'Oreal cosmetics group, have ensnared one of President Nicolas Sarkozy's top cabinet talents - Labour Minister Eric Woerth - who is masterminding a crucial reform of state pensions.

Woerth's wife used to help manage Bettencourt's accounts and he has been accused of a conflict of interest for having failed to order a tax investigation into the elderly billionaire when he served as budget minister from 2007 to March 2010.