One and a half after the adoption by parliament of the law on transparency of public life, the first political figure will she go? This is the challenge of the trial of Yamina Benguigui, former Minister for La Francophonie, between 2012 and 2014, convened at Paris court on Wednesday.
The director appeared to have withheld information in its declarations of assets and interests during his time in government.
Since the Act of October 11, 2013, passed in reaction to the Cahuzac affair, all the ministers, parliamentarians and some local officials have an obligation to declare their assets to a High Authority of the transparency of public life (HATVP).
A shares valued at 430,000 euros
An obligation in its breach in 2012, when he joined the government, and in 2013 and 2014, according to the president of the HATVP, Jean-Louis Nadal, who seized the Paris court in March 2014. The former minister failed to report 20% shares of a Belgian company that it holds since 2005.
Between 2012 and 2014, his actions are a round trip between her and her partner. In 2013, it bought out per euro – the price which has purchased – with a return clause. But the tax authorities, embarrassed by the lawful sale, which can amount to concealment of assets, advised him to assert his return clause.
960 000 Evaluated end of 2012 by tax administration, the shares are revalued in January 2014 to 430 000 by an audit company . Today, Yamina Benguigui, who is also adviser of Paris, is now selling its shares. But no mention of these accounting trips have been notified in its various declarations of assets.
“ The tax administration was aware of any ”
At the helm, the former minister is offensive: “There was never any enrichment, I have never hidden a penny. I am a very strict and the tax administration is aware of at all. “ She pleads good faith stating she paid wealth tax on its shares.
The elect of Paris also recalls the context of the case and the political explosion caused by the revelations about Jerome Cahuzac. “It was a tsunami to the government, all public opinion was against us. An error “ We were very afraid to commit, she recalls.
If discarding his cabinet in the ministry and the financial director of her production company called Bandits-Production (sic) – “the knowledgeable parties,” as she calls them – she says before magistrates she does not care to fulfill its asset declarations, either for mayor of Paris or the government. If the director confesses “be exceeded by the technicality and the requirement of these tax issues” , it challenges the intentionality of its omissions. At best she admits negligence.
“She made mediatically crucify”
The lawyer of the former minister, Eric Dupond-Moretti, that “likes neither transparency nor the authority” to take this hearing to the trial of the High Authority on transparency and the law of 11 October 2013. “This case, this is the first work of HATVP, this kind of populist trick , continues the lawyer. It’s been months since they did not care anything, they had to leave something. “ For him it’s simple, Yamina Benguigui was made ” “cahuzaquer”. She mediatically crucified, there was no respect for the presumption of innocence “.
From the beginning of his indictment, the prosecutor, Jerome Marilly , tries to calm things down. “The prosecution is not the armed wing of the High Authority. We are not a war machine , he said. This is the normal operation of justice under the rule of law. “
The prosecutor then takes strongly to the accused. “We expect government ministers absolute transparency. Demonstrate lightness, it is not admissible excuses when you are Minister of the Republic , he scolds. I do not mind to trust those around him but then talking to a minister who, in Cabinet, he was recalled to demanding proof and transparency. “
Although the prosecutor reminded “that there was no personal enrichment, no hidden account in Switzerland or dishonesty” , he asked the court to sentence Yamina Benguigui to four months suspended sentence and 15,000 euro fine.
Haro on Cahuzac law
Taking the last word, the tenor of Dupond-Moretti Bar reminds the court “that there will be an educational weight in this decision, you jurisprudence” . Yamina Benguigui is the first policy to be judged on the basis of this law on transparency in public life. A “ fuzzy” Law , “imprecise” , voted in the “ precipitation” of the Cahuzac affair, according to the lawyer. Last month, objections to the text had been raised in a case concerning the National Front. Deliberated on 23 September.
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