Courtesy of Mish.
To the victor, belongs the spoils.
Had former French president Nicolas Sarkozy won reelection, he certainly would not be under investigation for illegally funding his campaign, nor there would be an investigation regarding his involvement in fraudulent arms sales to Pakistan.
Perhaps Sarkozy wants to escape such charges, or perhaps he wants to move for tax reasons, but regardless of why, the latest political scandal is Sarkozy’s plans ‘to dodge new 75% French tax rate by moving to London with wife Carla and setting up £1bn private equity fund’
Nicolas Sarkozy is preparing to move to London to set up a billion pounds plus investment fund, it was claimed today.
If the move goes ahead, the controversial Frenchman will become the latest to escape a potential top tax rate of 75 per cent in his home country.
He and his former supermodel third wife Carla Bruni-Sarkozy would be likely to settle in an affluent district like South Kensington – so becoming the most high profile Gallic celebrity couple in the city.
But the former president is under investigation for corruption in France, and if he does cross the Channel there will be outrage.
Details of the planned move were uncovered during a raid by fraud police on Sarkozy’s Paris mansion last June.
It came within weeks of Mr Sarkozy losing his immunity against prosecution after being defeated by Socialist rival Francois Hollande in the May presidential election.
Now the hugely respected investigative news site Mediapart reports that the ‘first draft’ of Mr Sarkozy’s London project was found by detectives examining his computer files.
Mr Sarkozy is said to have taken the money from Liliane Bettencourt, the I’ Oreal heiress – a claim the politician denies, but for which he could still receive a prison sentence.
He is also being investigated over numerous other funding scandals, including one linked to arms sales to Pakistan, and another in which he is said to have used millions in taxpayers’ money to pay friends to produce opinion polls while he was in office.
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