Liliane Bettencourt's finances have been at the center of a political storm that includes unproven claims that she gave money illegally to President Nicolas Sarkozy's conservative party during his 2007 election campaign.

Bettencourt, who is France's richest woman, is in a legal dispute with her daughter, who says her mother was bilked out of 1 billion euros by a celebrity photographer.

Bettencourt said in a statement Wednesday that she is seeking an independent audit of her finances, to show that she knows "perfectly how to manage" her family's affairs.