France seeks fine, suspended term in Dassault tax case

Prosecutors on Thursday sought a two-year suspended prison term and a nine-million-euro ($9.96-million) fine for tax fraud against 91-year-old Serge Dassault, one of France's leading industrialists and wealthiest citizens.

They also want Dassault -- who is also a conservative member of the Senate -- declared ineligible to serve as a senator for five years.

Dassault, the head of aviation and software giant Dassault Group, is accused of stashing millions of euros in tax havens from Liechtenstein to the British Virgin Islands.

The prosecution slammed Dassault for not appearing in court for the trial, which started Monday.

"There is his law and the law of others," said prosecutor Ulrika Delaunay-Weiss, accusing the tycoon of "flouting and trampling on republican values."

Dassault is France's third wealthiest person, with a net worth estimated by Forbes magazine of $14.8 billion (13.3 billion euros).

Prosecutors say his foreign accounts contained 31 million euros in 2006, and 12 million euros in 2014.

"We don't know what became of this 19-million euro difference," said lead judge Olivier Geron.

The only evidence brought by Dassault's lawyers were letters indicating the money had been inherited.

The court heard that the money may have been placed in the accounts in the 1950s by his father Marcel Dassault who was afraid of "reliving the war" during which he had been imprisoned and deported for refusing to collaborate with Germany's aviation industry.

Marcel Dassault -- who changed his original surname Bloch to Dassault which means "on the attack" in French -- developed a propeller used by French pilots in World War I and went on to create fighter jets and form Dassault Aviation.

His son Serge has had a more controversial career.

If the court follows prosecutors' suggestions it will be the second time a court strips him of a political position.

In 2009 his re-election as the mayor of the town of Corbeil-Essonnes in the Paris suburbs was annulled over allegations he bought the votes of poor families of immigrant backgrounds.

Dassault was mayor of the town from 1995 to 2009 and an investigation is still under way into the accusations.

He was charged in April 2014 with vote-buying, complicity in illegal election campaign financing and exceeding campaign spending limits.

In May a court heard the money had fuelled violence, threats and extortion in the small town.

A close ally of Dassault, Younes Bounouara, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for attempted murder in May for shooting a man who filmed Dassault admitting he had given money to Bounouara to be distributed.

The French satirical weekly Canard Enchaine reported that Bounouara had been given 1.7 million euros by Dassault, but had not shared it out within the community as he had promised, stoking anger.