Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy may move to London to avoid taxes

Former French President Nicolas Sarkozy plans to open an investment fund in London, which will allow him to live and work in the UK and avoid the 75% tax on wealthy French people, The Daily Telegraph reports.

Such intentions of Nicolas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni were revealed during a police search of documents on his work computer, which he used when he was president of France.

According to the newspaper, the documents show that the former French president is negotiating the creation of an investment fund in the British capital and plans to invest about a billion euros in the business.

At the same time, sources close to Sarkozy denied both the information about the investment fund and the move to London, the article says.

In December 2012, actor Gerard Depardieu renounced his French citizenship due to the fact that the country's President Francois Hollande introduced a 75 percent tax rate on income exceeding 1 million euros per year. The actor bought a house in Belgium and from there sent his passport and social card to the French government. He considered several options for countries for emigration, including Russia. During a press conference on December 20, Russian President Vladimir Putin said: “If Gerard really wants to have either a residence permit in Russia or a Russian passport, then we will assume that this issue has been resolved, and has already been resolved positively.” By decree of January 3, 2013, Putin granted Russian citizenship to the French actor .

In addition, due to high taxes, businessman Bernard Arnault, head of the Moët Hennessy-Louis Vuitton concern, left France. He left for Belgium.