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French ex-budget minister sentenced to 3 years in jail for fiscal fraud

Xinhua, December 8, 2016 Adjust font size:

A French court on Thursday handed down a three-year jail term to former French budget minister Jerome Cahuzac for tax fraud and money laundering, according to local media.

Cahuzac's ex-wife Patricia Menard was also sentenced to two years in jail for her role in stashing millions of euros abroad.

Known as the toughest budget-watcher in the Socialist Party, Cahuzac is accused of stashing a secret 600,000 euros (647,209 U.S. dollars) in foreign bank accounts in Switzerland and Singapore through which he laundered money between 2003 and 2013.

The 64-year-old former cosmetic surgeon will appeal the court's ruling, his defense lawyer Jean Veil told broadcaster Europe1.

"We think that prison is not really an adapted sanction," Viel said.

Cahuzac, who led a crackdown on tax evasion in the Socialist Party's first government in 2012, was forced to resign from his ministerial post in 2013 after admitting to holding a Swiss bank account for 20 years.

Embattled by the tax evasion affair just months after taking office, French President Francois Hollande ordered his ministers to make public their personal wealth to stem the shocking scandal and regain trust. Endit