A preliminary investigation targeting the consulting activities carried out by the former boss of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Dominique Strauss-Kahn from Morocco has been opened for laundering aggravated tax fraud after the revelations of the Pandora Papers, the prosecution said on Wednesday. national financier, confirming information from Le Monde.
As part of this investigation, entrusted to the Service of judicial investigations of finances (SEJF), Dominique Strauss-Kahn was heard under the regime of custody at the end of the summer, according to a judicial source.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn’s activities as a speaker and consultant were pinpointed in October 2021 as part of the Pandora Papers, an investigation in which around 600 journalists gathered within the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) had collaborated.
Among the approximately 11.9 million documents from fourteen financial services companies studied, the program Cash Investigation looked at accounting elements from the company Parnasse International, created by the former French socialist minister in May 2013.
It is established in a free zone of Morocco, the Casablanca Finance City (CFC), which allowed it a total exemption from corporate tax for five years and then a ceiling of 8.75% thereafter. according to Cash Investigation.
The Cash Investigation investigation also pointed to the creation of Parnasse Global Limited in April 2018 in the United Arab Emirates. In this country where there is no public register of companies, the DSK company does not pay any tax.
These two companies receive DSK’s fees for the conferences he gives throughout the world and his advice to companies and managers. Supporting documents, Cash Investigation affirms that he notably advised the Congolese president Denis Sassou-Nguesso to plead the cause of Congo, a very indebted country, with the IMF.
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The tax administration asked for an appointment with my client and nothing has happened since, told AFP Me Jean Veil, DSK’s lawyer. I deduce that the administration was convinced that indeed he was a Moroccan tax resident. For me, it was a file that was closed. When he comes to Paris, it’s less than six months, he has no children in Paris, his work is not in France, I don’t see the elements that justify the fact that his tax system would be at fault, he added.
In October 2021, DSK defended itself on Twitter. I have been a Moroccan tax resident since 2013 and (…) I pay my taxes there up to 23.8% of my profits, or 812,000 euros for the years 2018, 2019 and 2020, he wrote.
The PNF opened another investigation in February for laundering tax evasion following the revelations of the Pandora Papers, targeting the former Czech Prime Minister and billionaire Andrej Babis.
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