This is not a small controversy but a "serious" affair, according to Fabien Roussel.

The secretary general of the PCF on Wednesday asked "an exercise in transparency" from the Minister for Energy Transition, Agnès Pannier-Runacher, whose children hold shares in a company whose funds are partly domiciled in tax havens.

“There is tax optimization, there is conflict of interest.

It's not a storm in a teacup, it's serious, "said the boss of the PCF on the set of France 2. "The difference between tax optimization and tax evasion is the thickness of a prison wall,” he added.

He criticized "a way of avoiding paying taxes that all French people pay on inheritance tax in particular" and referred the government to its responsibilities in refusing to sanction tax optimization, which is legal in France.

Open investigation

The High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life (HATVP) opened an investigation on Tuesday into Agnès Pannier-Runacher, after information from Disclose revealing that her children were associated with a French company whose funds are partly domiciled in tax havens. and which is not mentioned in the minister's declaration of interests.



The person concerned on Tuesday denounced "false and slanderous allegations".

“Who benefits from the crime?

“, she launched Wednesday on the sidelines of a trip to Pas-de-Calais.

"As soon as you have allegations that are unfounded, misleading and slanderous, which want to lead me not to defend a text on renewable energies which has been very widely adopted by the Senate, I wonder," he said. she added, saying she was “serene” and “determined”.

Domiciled in a house of Olivier Dassault

On Wednesday, Politico also reveals that the minister "has been domiciled since 2021 in a house belonging to the heirs of the late deputy Olivier Dassault" in the center of Lens.

Agnès Pannier-Runacher, at the time Minister of Industry, was a candidate in the regional elections and needed a foothold in Hauts-de-France.

According to the news site, her partner, the former PS deputy of Pas-de-Calais Nicolas Bays, has lived there since 2017, pays rent to the Dassault heirs and plans to buy the property.

Nicolas Bays and Olivier Dassault, heir to the large eponymous industrial group and who died in 2021, were both vice-presidents of the France-Qatar friendship group.

Policy

Conflict of interest: Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher targeted by an investigation by the High Authority for Transparency

World

Global tax evasion costs $427 billion a year

  • Fabien Roussel

  • National Assembly

  • Agnes Pannier-Runacher

  • Tax heavens

  • Controversy

  • French Communist Party (PCF)