Paul Hottinguer (also known by the surname Hottinger), belonging to the banking family of Swiss origin, will be tried in June in Paris for tax fraud and money laundering. He is suspected of having falsely domiciled in Switzerland to avoid paying more than three million euros in tax in France.
The man, aged 82, will appear on June 2 and 4 before the 32nd chamber of the Paris criminal court for tax fraud and laundering of tax fraud from 2012 to 2020, a judicial source said on Wednesday.
He is suspected of having concealed from the tax administration, via false domiciliation in Switzerland, income “to the tune of 8.7 million euros from 2012 to 2020”, the years 2016, 2017 and 2022 being currently still at the analysis. The duties evaded have so far been estimated at 3.1 million euros, described the judicial source.
Regarding wealth tax, the hidden assets were estimated at 7.7 million euros, or 110,000 euros in evaded duties, she added.
His son, Philippe Hottinguer, and his former assistant will be tried alongside him for complicity in these two offenses.
He disputes
“Paul Hottinger denies committing the alleged offenses. He explained himself during the investigation: he was not a French tax resident during the years in question and paid his taxes in Switzerland,” his lawyers Martin Reynaud and Michel Gryner responded to AFP.
“He has Swiss nationality and has spent his entire career in Switzerland. The criticisms made against him by the French authorities are unfounded,” added his advisers.
The investigation by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) began after a complaint from the tax administration in 2019.
Paul Hottinguer, owner of a large apartment in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, is known for organizing hunts on the grounds of his castle in Seine-et-Marne. But, according to the prosecution, he has lived in Switzerland since the 1980s.
Invoices, telephony, diary, travel, registration on the electoral lists, affiliation with a club, organization of hunts, bank accounts, real estate, employment of employees…: the investigations revealed that Mr. Hottinguer “is domiciled in France” and that “he draws his income from his activity” in France, describes the same source.
Financial arrangement
At the same time, he is accused of having set up “a financial arrangement” with companies and foundations registered abroad, with offshore accounts, to capture the dividends received from his activities in France, in particular via a real estate company, to evade tax entirely, specifies this source.
-His son, “manager and administrator of several of these companies”, received these dividends and paid them to his father, according to the judicial source.
Contacted, his lawyer did not respond to AFP.
His former assistant is accused of having falsely domiciled Paul Hottinguer in Switzerland in the tax declarations and monitoring his financial arrangements.
The defendant “played a role in the continuation of the fraud,” explained PNF representative François-Xavier Dulin during an appearance on prior admission of guilt (CRPC) on January 14 in Paris.
“I should have said no”
“I clearly saw after each year that we could not demonstrate that he was a Swiss resident, it was undeniable” but “I was his subordinate, I did what he asked of me,” she defended the former assistant, describing Paul Hottinguer as a “sanguine” man who “controlled everything” and “yelled all the time.”
“I didn’t think it implicated me” in the fraud. “I should have said no and quit my job,” a decision that would have embarrassed her, she added.
The CRPC, which provided for a ten-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 30,000 euros, was not approved by the president.
The magistrate considered that it was “difficult without debate on the main facts to say that the defendant is an accomplice” and stressed that questions arose about her will and her consciousness to commit the offenses.
The Hottinguers are one of the oldest banking families in Europe, historically based in Zurich, Switzerland.
(afp)
