Faced with reproaches from the HATVP, she insists. Former minister Caroline Cayeux disputes the assessment of her assets made by the High Authority for the Transparency of Public Life (HATVP), which took her case to court on Tuesday, her lawyer, Edouard de Lamaze, said on Wednesday. in a press release.
Calling into question an “unprecedented position of the High Authority”, Me Lamaze affirms that this body “varied the amount” of the valuation of the Parisian apartment of Madame Cayeux, “to reach an excessive sum of 23,000 euros per meter square “. The HATVP indicated that it had taken legal action suspecting a “false evaluation” of the heritage of the ex-minister, in particular of this Parisian building.
The HATVP indicated that it had taken legal action suspecting a “misleading evaluation” of the heritage of the former Minister Delegate for Local Authorities, in particular of this Parisian building, and “tax fraud”.
Cayeux defends a “compliant” valuation
“A simple search on the tax sites or on an online estimation site reveals a valuation in line with and even lower than that declared by Mrs. Cayeux” for this apartment of “210 m2”, adds the press release.
“A disagreement (…) on the value of the square meter of an apartment obviously does not constitute a criminal offence”, continue the lawyers, judging “as serious as incomprehensible”, the accusation of fraud against their client. “We are greatly surprised by such relentlessness from the High Authority”, they add, emphasizing that the former minister “had no illegal behavior”.
She “holds at the disposal of Justice all the elements necessary to put an end to such an attack on her honor as quickly as possible”, they conclude. Caroline Cayeux resigned Monday from her ministerial post in order, she said, “not to hinder the action of the government”.
Justice seized
She then claimed to have made an amending declaration of her assets by “taking into account the observations” of the HATVP which had alerted her on the occasion of her declaration of assets as mayor of Beauvais in 2021.
But according to a press release from the HATVP on Tuesday, his initial declaration “included significant reductions in the value of his property”, his main residence in Paris and a house located in Ille-et-Vilaine, “of about half the global value of these two goods”.
Caroline Cayeux “could not ignore the fair value”, said the independent authority on Tuesday, for whom the filing of amending declarations “does not eliminate” the offense of misleading valuation of its heritage. The High Authority also noted “that these facts are likely to constitute the offense of tax evasion”.