UPDATE: Depardieu flees the taxman

ACTOR Gérard Depardieu, one of France’s highest-paid screen stars, has bought a house in Belgium to escape high taxes.

Depardieu, 63, paid around €200,000 for the brick-built house with pool in Néchin, just one kilometre from Roubaix and the border with France.

The village, in the commune of Estaimpuis, is known for having several rich French tax exiles staying there, including Auchan-owning Mulliez family. More than one in four residents is French.

Estaimpuis bourgmestre Daniel Senesael, the mayor, told RTL.be website that Depardieu “liked our area, its rural character”. He added: “He wanted to find a home in Belgium to escape French tax and he could just have easily gone to Brussels, but he wanted to get out of Paris, the city, its noise, and find a little peace and quiet.”

The actor has also put his Paris hôtel de Chambon on the market at €50million. The 1,800sq.m hôtel particulier comes with garden and terraces. See pictures of the house: Daniel Feau properties

Depardieu has been in a few scrapes in Paris recently, including an alleged road-rage attack on a motorist and being arrested for drink-driving. He potentially faces jail for the drink-driving offence as he was four times over the limit.

Locals in Néchin were not overly bothered about the arrival of the Asterix star amongst them, but one told Europe 1 that the arrival of the rich French people was “changing things for young people, with land and property prices rising hugely”.

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Photo: Georges Biard