The world’s tax havens must be “eradicated” and French banks must declare all of their subsidiaries, declared French President Francois Hollande today.
Presenting a draft law “moralising” french public life, he also has demanded that all 37 ministers disclose their personal wealth and assets by this Monday, following the recent tax fraud scandals by leading government figures in France.
As his popularity since election last year dwindles, President Holland said French banks “will have to publish every year the full list of their subsidiaries in the world, country by country”. “They will also have to explain their business”, he said.
“In other words it won’t be possible for a bank to hide transactions carried out in a tax haven.” In addition, “a high-level authority will be created to monitor the assets and interests of ministers, members of parliament and top elected officials“, he said.
Mr Hollande said a new national, specialist prosecutor would focus on corruption, with tougher penalties for those found guilty of fraud.
The banking system across Europe is being shaken once again, following recent banking scares in Cyprus, where Russian investors lost billions of Euros deposited in Cypriot banks. The government decided on an immediate tax on all accounts over 100,000 Euros and banks closed for a whole week while they negotiated an EU bailout deal, to prevent a run on their banks. Some sources claimed Cyprus was a “tax haven” and a “money laundering” center, though today Cyprus announced citizenship rules are to be relaxed in Cyprus to encourage foreign investors who lost 3 million Euros under the Cyprus EU bailout deal last month.
The reaction of the french banks, and the rest of the corporate world, to Francois Hollande’s proposals will make interesting reading over the next few days.