Former French budget minister Jérôme Cahuzac and his ex-wife Patricia were on Thursday found guilty by a Paris court of tax fraud and moneylaundering the proceeds of the tax fraud. The socialist politician was sentenced to three years in prison and banned from holding electoral office for five years, against which he immediately appealed. Patricia Cahuzac was handed a two-year prison sentence. The verdict was announced almost four years to the day since Mediapart published the first revelations about the secret foreign bank account belonging to Cahuzac, who was then in charge of a crackdown on tax evasion. Michel Deléan reports.
Guy Wildenstein, a 70-year-old Franco-American, faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted of the alleged offences over hiding his inherited fortune in offshore accounts, for which the tax authorities are demanding an adjustment of 553 million euros.
At the end of a two-week trial for tax fraud and money laundering, Paris prosecutors this week demanded a sentence of three years in jail for former socialist French budget minister Jérôme Cahuzac, and two years in prison for his former wife Patricia. The court will announce its verdict and sentencing in December. The trial was prompted by Mediapart’s exclusive revelations in 2012 of how Cahuzac, in charge of a crackdown on tax fraud in France, had held a secret bank account abroad for two decades. Michel Deléan and Fabrice Arfi report on the hearings.
Close to the end of a two-week trial, the prosecutor demanded that Jérôme Cahuzac, who was exposed by Mediapart for holding a tax-evading bank account abroad, be also barred from elected office for five years and that his wife be sentenced to two years in jail.
Arnaud Mimran, a French businessman on trial in Paris for his alleged role in a massive carbon trading VAT scam, has confirmed his financial links with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Under cross-examination on Thursday May 19th, Mimran, who is also under investigation in a separate case of kidnapping and sequestration, said he had given Netanyahu one million euros. Mediapart understands the payment dates back to 2001. The Israeli premier has denied he received such a sum. Michel Deléan reports.
The trial of the 63-year-old, who Mediapart revealed held a secret tax-dodging account in Switzerland for more than 20 years, opened in Paris on Monday.
Former French finance minister Jérôme Cahuzac will next month stand trial on charges of tax evasion and money laundering. The trial follows a two-year judicial investigation which was itself prompted by Mediapart’s revelations that Cahuzac held a secret bank account abroad, which he first denied before finally confessing in April 2013. Mediapart has gained access to the concluding report by the magistrates which details the evidence for sending Cahuzac for trial. Fabrice Arfi reports.
