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France's honest tax system crusader convicted for hiding millions of euros
Source: The Guardian
France's honest tax system crusader convicted for hiding millions of euros
Jérôme Cahuzac, appointed by Hollande to lead clampdown on
wealthy avoiders, hid cash in a secret Swiss account for 20 years
Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
Thursday 8 December 2016 10.59 GMT
Jérôme Cahuzac, the minister who led François Hollande’s drive for a more honest tax system, has been sentenced to three years in prison for tax fraud and secretly stashing his wealth in tax havens around the world.
The deeply damaging saga, in which Cahuzac spearheaded the left’s crusade against tax avoidance while secretly hiding millions of euros of his own money from French tax authorities, was the biggest scandal to hit Hollande’s presidency.
Cahuzac was appointed Hollande’s tax tsar in 2012 to lead the Socialist president’s crusade against wealthy tax-avoiders and make the rich pay their share of dragging France out of its economic woes.
But in 2013 he was forced to admit he had hidden his own money in an account in Switzerland for 20 years and lied about it to parliament. The saga wrecked Hollande’s carefully crafted reputation as a straightforward “Mr Normal” who would oversee an honest government. It increased the public mistrust in France’s political class.
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Jérôme Cahuzac, appointed by Hollande to lead clampdown on
wealthy avoiders, hid cash in a secret Swiss account for 20 years
Angelique Chrisafis in Paris
Thursday 8 December 2016 10.59 GMT
Jérôme Cahuzac, the minister who led François Hollande’s drive for a more honest tax system, has been sentenced to three years in prison for tax fraud and secretly stashing his wealth in tax havens around the world.
The deeply damaging saga, in which Cahuzac spearheaded the left’s crusade against tax avoidance while secretly hiding millions of euros of his own money from French tax authorities, was the biggest scandal to hit Hollande’s presidency.
Cahuzac was appointed Hollande’s tax tsar in 2012 to lead the Socialist president’s crusade against wealthy tax-avoiders and make the rich pay their share of dragging France out of its economic woes.
But in 2013 he was forced to admit he had hidden his own money in an account in Switzerland for 20 years and lied about it to parliament. The saga wrecked Hollande’s carefully crafted reputation as a straightforward “Mr Normal” who would oversee an honest government. It increased the public mistrust in France’s political class.
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Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/08/france-honest-tax-system-crusader-jail-jerome-cahuzac