The brother and the niece of ex-president Jacques Chirac's wife, Bernadette, were attacked late on Wednesday night in a violent incident at a Paris metro station.

"/> The brother and the niece of ex-president Jacques Chirac's wife, Bernadette, were attacked late on Wednesday night in a violent incident at a Paris metro station.

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CRIME

Ex-president’s relatives attacked in metro fracas

The brother and the niece of ex-president Jacques Chirac's wife, Bernadette, were attacked late on Wednesday night in a violent incident at a Paris metro station.

According to newspaper Le Parisien, Mrs Chirac’s 62-year-old brother and his 22-year-old daughter were subjected to kicks and blows by a group of eight young people.

The attack happened at around 11pm at the Champs-Elysées-Clemenceau station on line 1 of the metro system.

The newspaper reports that Jérôme Chodron de Courcel was with his wife and their daughter, Emma, on line 1 of the metro on Wednesday evening at about 11pm. When the train arrived at the Champs-Elysées-Clemenceau station a group of young people aged between 18 and 21 boarded the train.

According to witnesses, one of the young people kicked the brother of Bernadette Chirac, who struck back with a punch. The incident then degenerated as the three were subjected to kicks and blows by the group. 

“The father received several blows to the face while his daughter tried to intervene,” said one source quoted by Le Parisien. “Several young men in the group attacked them.”

Several other passengers tried to help, including Jack Lang, the former Socialist culture minister who happened to be on board the same train. 

“He was present at the time of the incident,” confirmed his office, adding that he had got involved to help.

The victims were treated by transport police who managed to catch five of the eight attackers. They are now being held for questioning. 

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BANKING

Danish bank to pay millions to end French laundering probe

Denmark’s largest bank has agreed to pay a multi-million sum to end legal pursuits in France linked to alleged money laundering in its Estonian subsidiary that resulted in heavy US penalties

Danish bank to pay millions to end French laundering probe

Danske Bank will pay €6.3million (47million kroner) to end French financial authorities’ investigation.

An independent auditor’s report published in 2018 alleged Danske Bank’s Estonian unit allegedly laundered some €200billion through 15,000 accounts from 2007 to 2015.

The payment was agreed on August 27th with France’s national financial crime prosecutors and validated by a court on Wednesday. The agreement does not involve any admission of guilt.

Danske last December pleaded guilty in the United States and paid a $2billion fine.

The bank last October set aside an amount roughly equal to its US fine in expectation of legal pursuits in several countries.

Probes are underway in Estonia, Denmark, and Britain.

France charged Danske in 2019 with organised money laundering, which it denied, saying it was unaware of its Estonian subsidiary’s activities.

Tracfin, the French finance ministry’s anti-money laundering unit, found suspect movements on two accounts linked to a Franco-Russian businesswoman who has since been handed a two-year suspended sentence.

At Wednesday’s hearing, Danske’s counsel Niels Heering said his institution was “happy to reach this accord which for us is a way to close this chapter”, adding that “cracking down on financial fraud remains a priority” for the bank.

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