LOC14:22
11:22 GMT
PARIS, Dec 8 (KUNA) -- Former French budget minister Jerome Cahuzac was sentenced to three years in jail Thursday on charges of fraud, tax evasion and money-laundering while he was in office and before.
Media and judicial sources said that Cahuzac's estranged wife, Patricia Menard, also received a two-year prison term.
The sentences were in line with the request of the Public Prosecutor, who vilified the couple for betraying the confidence put in them and especially Cahuzac who had the job of tracking down and pursuing tax evaders while he was doing the same thing under the protection of his ministerial office.
The former minister, and close ally of President Francois Hollande at the time, denied for months that he had channelled funds to foreign accounts - notably in Switzerland - but he finally admitted the wrongdoing in April 2013 and stepped down in what was a huge embarrassment for Hollande.
Online investigative newspaper, "Mediapart" had accused Cahuzac of several inappropriate actions and tracked them in regular publications until the minister conceded.
"France Info" radio, reporting the conviction Thursday, did not say if Cahuzac would appeal his sentence, but this is considered likely.
The Cahuzac affair shocked the public and led to elected officials having to publicly declare their assets.
Cahuzac, who was found with around USD 650,000 on a personal account in Switzerland, said the money was not his but was reserved for a political operation that didn't take place.
But the former minister and his wife were also found to have invented a scheme to funnel out of France money from a medical clinic that they co-owned and which Menard operated in central Paris.
The Swiss bank "Reyl" and its owner were also convicted and received heavy combined fines of over USD two million. (end)
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