(8 Feb 2016) RESTRICTION SUMMARY: AP CLIENTS ONLY
++PLEASE NOTE: DIGITAL BREAK UP DUE TO STILLS CAMERA FLASHES++
AP TELEVISION - AP CLIENTS ONLY
Paris - 8 February 2016
1. Various of former French budget minister, Jerome Cahuzac, arriving and entering courtroom, surrounded by media
2. Various of Patricia Cahuzac, former wife of Jerome Cahuzac's, arriving amid media scrum and entering courtroom
3. Various of Jean-Alain Michel, Cahuzac's lawyer, arriving and entering courtroom, surrounded media, UPSOUND (French):
(Journalist off-camera: "You will ask for the trial to be postponed?")
Michel: "I will raise a question about priority preliminary ruling on constitutionality."
(Journalist off-camera: "What will it be?")
Michel: "You will see."
4. Various exteriors of courtroom
5. Exterior of Paris tribunal
STORYLINE:
A former French budget minister appeared in court on Monday on charges of tax fraud and money laundering that forced him to dramatically resign three years ago in the first and resounding political scandal under President Francois Hollande.
Jerome Cahuzac, 63, a one-time champion in the fight against tax evasion, is accused of fraudulently concealing 687,000 euros (765,000 US dollars) of income to the French tax authorities in 2009-2012 and laundering money through foreign bank accounts based in tax havens, first in Switzerland, then in off-shore places such as Panama, the Seychelles and Singapore, in 2003-2013 to finance his lavish lifestyle.
The highly-publicized trial begins on Monday afternoon in the main hearing room of the Paris criminal court in the presence of dozens of journalists and a large audience.
The Socialist, once considered a rising star in French politics, faces up to seven years in prison and at least a 1 (m) million-euro (1.1 (m) million US-dollar) fine if he is convicted of tax fraud.
Cahuzac's lawyers have said they would use the first hearing to ask the court to postpone the trial, arguing a defendant shouldn't be under both a criminal and a tax procedure in the same time.
If the court accepts Cahuzac's legal argument, the trial could be postponed for months.
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