French ministers to declare assets publicly

French ministers will declare their assets publicly by April 15, the prime minister's office said Monday, as the government seeks to limit the damage from an ex-minister's tax fraud scandal. The government will also put forward a law on financial transparency among ministers and other top officials by April 24, Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said in a statement. The move comes as President Francois Hollande's government scrambles to contain a scandal surrounding former budget minister Jerome Cahuzac, who last week was charged with tax fraud after admitting to having an undeclared foreign bank account. Ayrault said measures to boost financial transparency would be presented to a cabinet meeting on Wednesday and that he would meet with the speakers and faction chiefs of the lower house National Assembly and upper house Senate the following day. "The prime minister is preparing... a package of measures to ensure complete transparency on the assets of politicians and staff working with ministers, the president and the prime minister," Ayrault said. He said measures would also be taken to "more severely punish breaches of the financial law and ethics and integrity rules, and to strengthen the fight against tax fraud and tax havens".