In the space of a week, Thomas Thévenoud has leapt from near obscurity to seemingly become France’s most-despised man, reports The Independent.
Mr Thévenoud, 40, was fired from his job as trade minister last week after only nine days – the shortest ministerial career for more than half a century. At a time of rising taxes and popular fury, it emerged that the Socialist politician had failed to declare his earnings for three years in a row.
On Tuesday it was reported that Mr Thévenoud had lived in a flat in the centre of Paris for three years without paying the rent. He had also failed to pay a number of fines and omitted to mention his interest in several companies in his official declaration of wealth.
Mr Thévenoud – until recently vice-chairman of a parliamentary committee on tax fraud and a vehement critic of tax avoidance by multinationals – has been kicked out of the ruling Socialist Party. He is refusing, however, to resign his parliamentary seat despite pressure from the media, from colleagues and from an online petition which has gathered more than 130,000 signatures.
Mr Thévenoud admits his record is “not brilliant” but he blames his administrative incompetence or “phobia for bureaucracy”. He says that he has now paid all the taxes and rent owed. “Let anyone who accuses me of self-enrichment reveal their own wealth,” he said. “It’s time to leave me in peace. Everything is being thrown in my face.”
The Thévenoud saga could not have come at a worse time for President François Hollande and his prime minister, Manuel Valls. Mr Hollande’s popularity has slumped to an all-time record low of 13 per cent. Mr Valls will put his reformist government’s survival on the line next Tuesday in a parliamentary vote of confidence in which up to 60 Socialist deputies threaten to abstain.
Read more of this report from The Independent.