Pandora Papers – Dominique Strauss-Kahn singled out for his use of tax evasion
The Pandora Papers reveal that more than 300 politicians around the world, as well as billionaires or stars resort to tax havens, mainly to evade taxes in their own countries. Among these personalities is the French Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former Minister of the Economy and former Director of the IMF.
Dominique Strauss-Kahn would have passed several million dollars in fees, for advice to companies, via a Moroccan company, exempt from taxes.
Created in 2013 in Morocco, the company Parnasse International, of which DSK is the sole shareholder and the sole employee, has enabled the former Minister of the Economy to offer his services as a luxury consultant on economic issues to several leaders. Africans.
A profitable business, since between 2013 and 2018 alone, according to L’Obs, DSK would have garnered more than 21 million euros in profits and would have been able to pay himself more than 5.3 million euros in income.
Especially since at the time, Morocco offered a tax exemption of five years, then a reduction of 50%, to companies coming to settle in its free zones, such as Casablanca, before finally putting an end to this measure by February 2021.
This is not the first time that the former IMF boss has been involved in a tax optimization case. Five years ago, the Panama Papers investigation revealed that his former investment fund, LSK, launched with a sulphurous businessman, had created some 30 companies in tax havens.
This fund had enabled their clients to establish and administer companies in the Seychelles, the British Virgin Islands, Panama and Hong Kong.
However, a few months before the launch of this fund, the former Minister of the Economy denounced, before a Senate committee, the lack of will of the States to fight against tax evasion.
