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Names of French with Swiss accounts turned in

Ben McPartland
Ben McPartland - [email protected]
Names of French with Swiss accounts turned in
Pierre Condamin-Gerbier Photo: Screen capture LCI television

Certain politicians in France might not sleep well in their beds tonight. A former banker in Switzerland has handed a list to French authorities which he claims contains the names of 15 prominent lawmakers who have secret Swiss bank accounts.

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A former official with Swiss bank Reyl et Cie who claimed he knew of 15 French politicians and "big names" with undeclared bank accounts in Switzerland said on Wednesday he had submitted the list to investigators.

Pierre Condamin-Gerbier was a witness before a parliamentary commission investigating former Budget Minister Jerome Cahuzac, who resigned in disgrace in March over an undeclared foreign bank account said to contain around €600,000. Cahuzac is now facing charges of tax fraud.

"The list and information... were transmitted yesterday to French justice," Condamin-Gerbier, who worked at Reyl et Cie between 2006 and 2010, told the commission.

He had earlier said the list contained a number of well-known names. Condamin-Gerbier had refused to name the holders of the banks accounts when he appeared before parliament insisting the responsibility lay with the investigators.

"I can simply say that very big names in French politics figure on this list, people whose faces we are used to seeing on television. These are personalities far better known to the public than Cahuzac," he told newspaper Le Journal du Dimanche last month.

Condamin-Gerbier has also said the family of a serving minister had funds in Switzerland for several years.

Last week, Cahuzac was heard by the same committee in the French parliament. He attempted to clear up any suspicion over whether President François Hollande and Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault, knew of his bank account by insisting he did not tell "the truth to anyone".

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