Europe

Sarkozy’s aide charged with tax evasion, forgery

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A former French interior minister has been charged with tax evasion and forgery in connection with an investigation into allegations that ex-Libyan dictator helped finance Nicolas Sarkozy’s 2007 presidential election campaign.

According to Press TV, Claude Gueant was placed on Saturday under formal investigation over cash he allegedly accepted from Muammar Gaddafi.

According to a judicial source, Gueant, who was Sarkozy’s closest aide for 10 years, had been charged with tax avoidance.

The charges were made after investigators found a 500,000-euro money transfer in Gueant’s bank account during a search in February 2013.

The former interior minister denies any of the charges, claiming instead that the money came for the sale of two 17th-century Flemish paintings by Andries van Eertvelt to a Malaysian lawyer.

However, experts question the amount, saying the highest price reached at an art auction for one of Eertvelt’s works was around 140,000 euros.

Gueant was taken into custody on March 6 in the offices of the anti-corruption bureau, where he was questioned and spent the night before interrogations resumed on Saturday morning.

Phillppe Bouchez el-Ghozi, Gueant’s lawyer, said the former minister was interrogated for 30 hours and was asked “almost 30 questions that mainly focused on the so-called Libyan funding.”

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