In a bid to strengthen the involvement of the French tax authorities in the country's ongoing and intensified battle against its 'underground economy,' and tax fraud in particular, in accordance with wishes expressed by President Nicolas Sarkozy, France's Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux and Budget Minister Eric Woerth have signed an agreement designed to significantly increase cooperation between the two Ministries.
The aim of the new agreement is to strengthen ties between the security services and the Directorate General of Public Finance (la direction générale des finances publiques ' DGFiP), thereby mobilizing all possible legal and human resources available to combat all forms of fraud, including tax fraud ' increasingly crucial in particularly sensitive areas of France.
The protocol establishes active collaboration between the two services, requiring them to exchange information, to conduct joint action in order to identify the perpetrators of fraud, and to impose the necessary and appropriate sanctions.
In order to achieve this goal, the government intends to amend the existing regulations in place pertaining to professional confidentiality. Consequently, the French security forces will be privy to certain tax information, and similarly officers from the tax authorities will benefit from information made available by police officers.
According to the government statement, a national steering committee will be set up in order to establish links between the two services, to draw up a national action plan, and to monitor progress. The government also plans to set up a local committee in every department where there is at least one sensitive area.
According to Hortefeux, the fight against all forms of criminality demands complete cooperation between all State services. By working closely with the tax authorities, the police and gendarmes will be better placed to tackle the underground economy, the Minister concluded.
