Former French President Sarkozy May Be Latest Tax Refugee: Reports
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France’s former president Nicolas Sarkozy had plans to create a $1.6 billion hedge fund in London in order to escape his successor’s proposed 75 percent tax on the wealthy, claimed a report by the Daily Mail on Tuesday, after corruption investigations into Sarkozy last year uncovered details on “secret preparations” for the new venture.
France’s former president Nicolas Sarkozy had plans to create a $1.6 billion hedge fund in London in order to escape his successor’s proposed 75 percent tax on the wealthy, claimed a report by the Daily Mail on Tuesday, after corruption investigations into Sarkozy last year uncovered details on “secret preparations” for the new venture.
The French investigative site Mediapart were the first to break the story, alleging that detectives looking into the Bettencourt Affair – where the former president was accused of taking illegal campaign money from L’Oreal heiress Liliane Bettencourt in 2007 – had found the “first draft” of Sarkozy’s London project while examining his computer files during a raid at his home last year.
The London fund was reportedly supposed to be set up with the assistance of French political player Alain Minc; and would have seen the ex-president move his personal fortune – valued at around $4 million – across the English Channel, allowing Sarkozy to avoid any potential tax hikes and escape from other fraud charges levelled against him.
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The Daily Mail added that Sarkozy and his ex-supermodel wife Carla Bruni would likely in the affluent South Kensington district – becoming the most high profile Gallic celebrity couple in the city.
Aides to Sarkozy immediately denied the report, claimed French daily Le Figaro.
[quote]“This claim is just pure fantasy,” one staff member said; while Alain Minc himself maintained that “it’s absurd to think that [Sarkozy] could just move to London and stop paying taxes in France.” [/quote]However with the wave of high-profile French celebrities and businessmen, including actor Gerard Depardieu and luxury goods magnate Bernard Arnault, openly leaving France for more tax-friendly nations, media speculation over Sarkozy’s plans grew – especially as investigations are still underway over cases implicating him in arms sales to Pakistan and another in which he paid friends to produce opinion polls with public money.
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If Sarkozy did move to London, he would see a 45 percent tax rate, which would be the same rate that France taxes its highest earners. His successor Francois Hollande had controversially promised to impose a 75 percent tax on millionaires during his campaign, a plan that was struck down by the French Constitutional Council last month, but may still come into effect by 2014, reported NewsMax.
