Cahuzac lawyer denies €15m claim

DISGRACED former budget minister Jérôme Cahuzac has denied through his lawyer trying to deposit €15million with a Geneva bank in 2009.

Lawyer Jean Veil said claims by the Swiss TV station TSR that it had evidence that Cahuzac had tried to bank the money were “not credible” and as he had already admitted having €600,000 in an undeclared Swiss account it “made no sense to tell just a part of the truth”.

TSR subsidiary RTS Info said the bank had refused to agree the transaction as Lot-et-Garonne MP Cahuzac was a high-profile political figure and it feared repercussions.

Cahuzac has already been charged with tax fraud after admitting the undeclared account. His admission came after months of denials, including in front of the National Assembly.

However, La Croix journalist Antoine Peillon commented on France 2: “You cannot have the expertise of a noted Paris financial adviser, working with Geneva finance house UBS which is used to managing some of the world’s greatest fortunes, without putting on the table not €600,000 but at least €10million. That’s the basic ticket price to benefit from these kind of services.”

Peillon is the author of Ces 600 Milliards qui Manquent à la France France’s Missing 600 Billion and said his investigations had showed major figures from all walks of life and both sides of the political divide also had undeclared bank accounts in Switzerland, the Seychelles or Singapore.

Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius has denied a story in Libération reporting rumours of him having had one or more accounts in Switzerland. The paper said website Mediapart, which first exposed the Cahuzac scandal, was investigating him – but site editor Edwy Plenel denied this.

• A survey for Journal du Dimanche newspaper showed that around 60% of people wanted President Hollande to launch a government reshuffle over the affair.
Photo: Cyclotron-CC