Tax fraud : Bercy sounds the charge

The ministry of Finance, strengthens its power over this "mass delinquency" and keeps the hand on the investigation, at the expense of justice.

What would happen tomorrow if, an event inconceivable, the minister of the Budget appeared to be the holder of a bank account hidden in a tax haven and not stated in his own administration ? The prosecutor would have the free hands to investigate ? Ah pardon, it is not a matter of political-fiction. France has already had its Jerome Cahuzac. Well, few remember it, but, at the moment of launching its investigation, the prosecutor's office in Paris had not been able to trigger a procedure for "tax fraud". No, if he had wanted to, he would have had to ask for the green light from the minister of the Budget. A certain Jerome Cahuzac. Gosh ! It was therefore necessary that the prosecutor used a sham : the absence of the power will be of direct interest to the tax fraud, it has opened an investigation for a reason schedule, that of "laundering tax fraud". A more complicated process - and therefore more risky, as it must, therefore, investigate two crimes instead of one.

Listen to Laurent Light to tell the below its investigation on tax evasion in France (on Soundcloud)

All of this is technical, but so meaningful. Thus, the administration, and it only, shall decide whether justice can launch investigations against tax evaders - this is the "lock" of Bercy. The only country in the world where the judges are as well restricted, it is in us that this happens. And if, tomorrow, the situation is repeated, if the fortune hidden in the Bahamas, the minister of the Action and of the public Accounts, Gérald Darmanin (here, we are really in the political-fiction), was revealed ? The same. The minister Darmanin would basically be the only one to decide to transmit or not to the prosecutor.

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this is the famous lock, that the Senate (yes, the Senate, that is to say,) had wanted to do jump in 2017 and that the majority had recovered. And it will probably be the same during the discussion of the bill of fight against the fraud that starts soon. Maybe with a few adjustments. But the device should stay under the control of Bercy.

"public Disorder"

The alleged new world promised by Emmanuel Macron is struggling to reach Bercy, while tax evasion is now being perceived as a "disturbance of public order" and a "breach of equality of citizens before the law", as the fact, the recent report of a parliamentary mission on the lock. In spite of this, the citadel Bercy is about to get significantly strengthened the arm of iron against the Inside and should even increase its powers : it gets the establishment of a new body of super-tax investigators. So that, next to police, an elite is already working on these issues. What to feed a new war fonts.

Bercy will retain the initiative to trigger, or not, criminal investigations, continue to not give reasons for its decisions and to be able to deal with fraudsters, it's all under the lid of the secret tax. Certainly, the government proposes to publish the names of the big scammers... but very framed. We will see what will happen with this measure. The tax and transparency have never been good bedfellows. Up to now, in fact, the veil was rarely lifted on the arrangements of the authorities with the fraudsters. Defined as a "mass delinquency", the tax fraud does not result yet in front of the courts at a snail's pace : about 50 000 checks annually, and 15 000 are deemed to be "law enforcement" - with heavy penalties. With regard to criminal investigations, they are ultimately only a few hundred per year on average. In 2016, 524 convictions for tax evasion were imposed.

"the Panama papers" : less than 25 criminal procedures initiated in France

In the aftermath of the revelation of the Panama papers, the leak of millions of documents from a firm of lawyers of panama, April 3, 2016, a meeting was held between the Parquet national financier (PNF) and the general Directorate of public finances of Bercy. The database, public now, "giving raw data requiring reprocessing to be traced back to the economic beneficiary," says one of the PNF. The tax department has controlled 560 of taxpayers on more than 5,000 cases related one way or another to the French appearing in the Panama papers.

It took sort to be able to "prosecute the cases under pre-tax arrangements with complex fraud, a priori, important". The Parquet national financier", it ensures that will be attached to investigate the intermediate (money launderers) who facilitated the operations. The meshes of the net have been very, very wide, because so far, in the end, less than 25 criminal procedures were triggered directly, without the green light from Bercy...

Among them, The Express reveals the folder, Isabelle Adjani, whose name appears clearly linked to a british Virgin islands corporation and a trustee of Singapore. Our information on the preliminary investigation for the emperor of the mineral water Pierre Papillaud, who died in June 2017, show that a bank in Luxembourg, a subsidiary of Société générale, could possibly be questioned.

prior Recognition of guilt

Far des stars and corporate leaders, billionaires, far from the Balkany, Dassault, Doc, Gynecologist, Jean-Marie Le Pen, and many other personalities who have been dealing with the tax authorities, the file relating to the swiss bank UBS, whose trial for selling illegal, will be held in the fall in Paris, has highlighted a captive market of medical professions, merchants, well-off, the butcher, the hairdresser, by way of the small bosses of businesses large and textile. As well as a number of sports.

Taken in the Panama papers, "the former linebacker renowned Philippe Sella has entered into with the justice a procedure for appearance on prior recognition of guilt", a sort of plea, in march, 2018. Today coach of the club of Agen, he was sentenced to three months suspended prison sentence and a fine of 15 000 euros - in addition to a tax assessment imposed by the finance ministry. Contacted, it has not responded to our request for an interview on this subject.

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similarly, did not wish to speak - not that of his lawyer - an inspector of finance, a former Credit suisse became one of the bankers the most influential of the place. He is suspected of having concealed not far from 10 million euros and of dollars between the United States and the Bahamas. But it has been the subject of a complaint of Bercy for tax fraud. As the child of a trade unionist house : it is "rare enough" to be stressed. For a dossier submitted to the judges, how many are settled behind the high walls of Bercy...