According to a report by the Guardian, French President Francois Hollande on Wednesday unveiled the measures, including appointment of a special prosecutor to deal with financial crimes, corruption and fraud, to assure ‘more transparency and integrity in public life.’
Hollande also vowed to wage a “relentless war” on financial crime, opaque finance and greed in Europe’s second largest economy.
The French president further pledged that banks would be made to release annual lists of their international affiliates, country by country in an effort to prevent use of tax havens.
“In other words, it won’t be possible for a bank to hide transactions carried out in a tax haven,” Hollande stated, adding, “Tax havens have to be eliminated in Europe and around the world.”
French ministers are also required to publish the details of their personal assets by April 15 since Hollande’s approval ratings have dropped to a record low due to Cahuzac’s secret foreign bank account.
In addition, all French lawmakers and key figures in local administrations should publish their assets at the start and end of terms.
Jerome Cahuzac resigned as France’s budget minister on March 19, after prosecutors opened an investigation into tax fraud allegations, revealed by the internet news site Mediapart in December 2012.
Cahuzac denied the allegations for several months, calling them “slanderous” and told the French parliament, “I don’t have, I never have had accounts abroad.”
On April 2, Cahuzac was charged with laundering the proceeds of tax fraud after he admitted to having an undeclared Swiss bank account with about 600,000 euros (about 776,000 US dollars) for the past 20 years.
MR/HSN
Source Article from http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/04/11/297693/france-unveils-anticorruption-measures/
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