Ex-minister who fought tax evasion jailed for tax fraud

Breaking Headlines
2016-12-08 | 09:44
High views
Share
LBCI
Share
LBCI
Whatsapp
facebook
Twitter
Messenger
telegram
telegram
print
Ex-minister who fought tax evasion jailed for tax fraud
Whatsapp
facebook
Twitter
Messenger
telegram
telegram
print
2min
Ex-minister who fought tax evasion jailed for tax fraud

A former minister who led a French government crackdown on tax evasion was sentenced to three years in jail on Thursday for hiding an offshore bank account of his own, in a scandal that deeply embarrassed President Francois Hollande.

 

A Paris court found Jerome Cahuzac, a cosmetic surgeon by trade who was made budget minister when Hollande won power in 2012, guilty of tax fraud and money laundering.

 

The 64-year-old, stonefaced, left the courthouse without commenting. His lawyer, Jean Veil, said he would lodge an appeal to seek a softer sentence. "Three years is too heavy," he said.

 

The verdict marks the end of a saga that shocked France and shook Hollande, who promised as he took power that his government would be beyond reproach after years of corruption accusations that dogged his predecessors.

 

Cahuzac, who specialized in hair transplants and consultancy work for drugs companies before becoming a minister, resigned in disgrace in 2013 when he admitted having held an undeclared account over 20 years, first in Switzerland and later in Singapore.

 

Prior to that he had repatedly denied the existence of such an account, once in particularly dramatic fashion in a declaration in the lower house of parliament.

 

After ultimately admitting he had lied, Cahuzac, now 64, was also expelled from the Socialist Party, of which he been a member since the 1970s.

 

Hollande, whose term ends in May 2017 and who said last week he would not seek a second one, at the time condemned what he called an unforgivable moral error.

 
 
REUTERS

 

Reyl bank of Geneva was also fined 1.875 million euros.

Breaking Headlines

France

Minister

LBCI Next
Grand Mufti Derian travels to Saudi Arabia for Hajj
Download now the LBCI mobile app
To see the latest news, the latest daily programs in Lebanon and the world
Google Play
App Store
We use
cookies
We use cookies to make
your experience on this
website better.
Accept
Learn More