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HOLLANDE

Hollande vows new law on ministers’ wealth

President François Hollande described the actions of disgraced ex-Budget Minister Jérôme Cahuzac on Wednesday as "an insult to the Republic" and vowed to introduce a new law on ministers' wealth. Cahuzac has been charged in a tax evasion probe.

Hollande vows new law on ministers' wealth
Hollande with his disgraced former budget minister. Photo: AFP

Beleaguered French President François Holande moved on Wednesday to deal with the growing crisis facing his government after ex-Budget Minister Jérôme Cahuzac confessed to hiding €600,000 in a Swiss bank account.

Appearing on national television Hollande pledged that a new law on the "publication and control" of ministers' wealth would be presented within weeks.

The president also said the ex-minister "did not benefit from any protection" from top officials "apart from the presumption of innocence" and that Cahuzac's actions were an "insult to the Republic"

Hollande promised that "justice will now do its job in complete independence".

The president also said measures would be taken to strengthen the independence of France's judiciary and that any elected official convicted of tax fraud would be banned from holding any public office in future.

Since his confession on Tuesday the former minister has become a pariah in France, coming under fire from the left and right and all sections of the media.

AS the fallout continued on Wednesday the leader of the far right National Front party Marine Le Pen called on the government to resign saying it was "inconceivable" that ministers did not know about Cahuzac's illegal bank account.

Le Pen accused Hollande's government of breaking the "bond of trust" with the French people. 

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