PARIS (Reuters) – Investigators have carried out searches in France and Belgium as part of an investigation into alleged tax fraud by French actor Gerard Depardieu, a French judicial source said on Monday.
The source said searches were carried out on February 11 by France’s Central Office for Combating Corruption and Financial and Tax Offenses (OCLCIFF) and by Belgian judicial authorities as part of a European investigation.
The searches are related to Depardieu’s tax situation and are part of a preliminary investigation opened in February 2024, for acts including tax fraud and aggravated tax fraud committed since 2013, the source said, adding that Depardieu has not yet been questioned.
The source gave no further details but French investigative website Mediapart and Belgian paper Le Soir reported on Monday that the French justice system suspects Depardieu – one of France’s most famous actors – of having been fictitiously domiciled in Belgium to avoid paying taxes in France.
Depardieu’s lawyer, Jeremie Assous, said the information in the articles was inaccurate and that tax authorities, after trying for years to establish this unsuccessfully, are now attempting to do so through criminal proceedings.
“Unfortunately for them … the result will be the same. Some might be tempted to describe these judicial methods as shabby, but they are legal and customary,” he told Reuters, without giving further clarification.
In a separate case, Depardieu is due to go on trial in March over allegations he sexually assaulted two women on a film set in 2021. He denies the accusations.
That case came to court in October but was postponed due to Depardieu’s health problems.
Depardieu, one of France’s biggest film stars whose hits include Green Card, Cyrano de Bergerac and La Vie en Rose, has faced sexual assault allegations in recent years that have tarnished his legacy.
(Reporting by Geert De Clercq, Makini Brice and Charlotte Van Campenhout, Editing by Sharon Singleton)
