Former minister and elected official of Oise, Caroline Cayeux targeted by an investigation by the Paris prosecutor’s office
On November 28, Caroline Cayeux left “at his request” the government because of suspicions of undervaluation of its declaration of assets with the High Authority for the transparency of public life (HATVP). The ephemeral minister delegate in charge of local authorities, ex-mayor LR of Beauvais and still president of the Agglomeration of Beauvaisis, will therefore only have spent five months within the team of Elisabeth Borne. Since her withdrawal, Caroline Cayeux has contested the evaluation of its heritage made by the HATVP.
This Wednesday, the Paris prosecutor’s office told Le Parisien, confirming information from Le Monde, “that a preliminary investigation of the heads of incomplete or misleading declaration of assets to the HATVP and laundering of tax fraud was entrusted, in December 2022 , to the economic crime repression brigade following a report made by the HATVP”. Investigations are still ongoing. Questioned this Wednesday, Caroline Cayeux refused to comment as long as “the investigation is in progress” while affirming that there was, according to her, “absolutely nothing new”.
At the heart of the case, two properties
At the heart of the case, two properties. At the end of November, the HATVP underlined in a press release that “the declaration of the financial situation of Madame Cayeux included significant reductions the value of his property, of the order of 2,400,000 euros for his main residence located in Paris and 1,500,000 euros for a house located in Ille-et-Vilaine, i.e. a reduction of approximately half of the value total of these two goods. »
The former minister’s lawyer, Me Myriam Mayel, for her part wondered about “the reason for the sudden media coverage of her client even though the investigation has been underway for several months without any new element”. She recalls that “the survey relates only to the estimate of the price per square meter of real estate”.
As for the qualification of tax evasion money laundering, Master Edouard de Lamaze, another lawyer for the former mayor of Beauvais, assures that “this qualification of concealment of a hypothetical tax evasion is perfectly aberrant, Caroline Cayeux having never hidden the least of her assets. »
When the affair broke out at the end of November, the same lawyers had already pointed out that a “disagreement on the value of the square meter of an apartment does not constitute a criminal offence” judging “as serious as it is incomprehensible”, the prosecution of fraud against their client. The prosecution, by entrusting the investigation to the economic crime repression brigade, seems to have had a different analysis.
