Yahoo – AFP,
31 March 2014
French minister Yamina Benguigui leaves the Elysee Palace after a weekly cabinet meeting in Paris, on March 26, 2014 (AFP Photo/Alain Jocard) |
Paris (AFP)
- France's minister in charge of relations with French-speaking countries,
Yamina Benguigui, is suspected of lying about her assets, a state-appointed
transparency watchdog said Monday.
Francophonie
Minister Benguigui has repeatedly and formally denied media allegations that
she failed to declare assets of up to 430,000 euros ($592,000) in April last
year.
She
subsequently sold the shares she held in a Belgian company, which earned her
430,000 euros, according to French weekly Marianne.
The
revelation is a fresh embarrassment for the embattled ruling Socialists, who
received a drubbing in municipal polls over the weekend.
President
Francois Hollande's party however won the race for the Paris mayor's office,
with Anne Hidalgo becoming the first female mayor of the French capital.
Benguigui was also elected as a councillor from Paris's 10th district.
The High
Authority for Transparency in Public Life said there was a "serious doubt
on the comprehensiveness, accuracy and sincerity" of the minister's
declaration of her assets.
The
authority was installed after former budget minister Jerome Cahuzac was forced
to resign in March last year after he admitted to having secret foreign
accounts.
Once in
charge of battling tax evasion and fraud, Cahuzac has admitted to repeatedly
lying about overseas accounts in Switzerland and Singapore said to contain
around 600,000 euros.
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