Swiss Account of Ex-Minister Further Darkens Hollande’s Political Fortunes

[Time]

The troubling political outlook for French President François Hollande darkened further April 2, after his former austerity-enforcing Budget Minister Jérôme Cahuzac admitted to possessing a secret Swiss bank account whose existence he previously denied. The avowal not only delivers a blow to Hollande's campaign pledge to return transparency and accountability to government. It also undermines the President's attempts to convince public opinion to accept deficit-reduction efforts he said were being exacted from all sections and actors of French society. Cahuzac resigned his cabinet position March 19 just hours after French prosecutors launched an official inquiry into suspicions of tax fraud. Despite that, the former amateur boxer never flinched from earlier, insistent denials of wrongdoing—and even launched slander proceedings against online Mediapart.fr publication that first broke the allegations. That position of innocence became harder to maintain after an audio recording Mediapart produced of someone fretting about the ability to keep his Swiss account secret from potential inquiry was verified by vocal testing to be that of Cahuzac. By March 26 he'd become sufficiently sure the truth would come out that Cahuzac wrote a letter to the two investigative magistrates overseeing the case to request an interview—a session of mea culpa Cahuzac revealed  on his web site Tuesday afternoon. (MORE: Amid the Depardieu Tax Debacle, France's Budget Minister Accused of Dodging Taxes) "I met the two judges today," Cahuzac wrote April 2. "I confirmed to them the existence of the account, and informed them that I've already given instructions necessary for all assets deposed in the count—which has not been added to for around 12 years—(worth) around €600,000 euros ($768,000) be repatriated to my Paris bank...Thinking I could avoid confronting a past I considered long gone was an unspeakable error. I will now face this reality in complete transparency." He'll have little choice. The result of his avowal to judges led to Cahuzac's immediate placement under investigation —a step under France's legal system akin to indictment. The crimes of tax evasion and money laundering involved carry potential prison terms in case of

Via: TIME GlobalSpin