French minister tasked with battling tax fraud accused of having Swiss bank account But yesterday the minister vehemently denied ever possessing any undeclared offshore accounts, and said his lawyers would file a criminal complaint for defamation. I have never had an account in Switzerland or anywhere else abroad. Ever," he said in a ministerial statement. "Mediapart, which I wished to meet, never accepted to produce the slightest document to back up their crazy claims," said Mr Cahuzac, a trained surgeon specialising in hair implants. My accusers must prove that their allegations are founded, and they'll have trouble doing so. Mediapart claimed that it had "material proof," but has not yet produced it. Mr Cahuzac said he reserved the right to pursue "all those who peddle these wild imaginings," and said he had no intention of resigning. The opposition Right remained prudent, with MP Laurent Wauquiez saying Mr Cahuzac would have to produce "not just denials but proof enabling him to dispel doubts." However another Right-wing MP, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, said: "It's up to the accuser to provide proof." The man at the heart of Mediapart's allegations is a retired tax inspector called Rémy Garnier, based in southwestern France. The inspector, whom colleagues nicknamed "Columbo" for his tenacity, first raised suspicions about the existence of the Swiss account in 2008 in a report sent to Eric Woerth, budget minister under conservative president Nicolas Sarkozy. Mr Garnier was subsequently sanctioned by his administration for consulting Mr Cahuzac's tax files "without apparent reason." During an internal inquiry, which resulted in him receiving a "warning," Mr Garnier said several "sources outside the tax administration converge towards the same conclusions: while he was working in the office of Claude Evin, health minister (from 1988 to 1991), (Mr Cahuzac) open (ed) a numbered Swiss bank account." He added that a "deeper investigation of his personal tax situation" was necessary, saying he could not categorically "validate or disprove this information." In his report, Mr Garnier also questioned how Mr Cahuzac had stumped up funds early in his career to buy a £650,000 flat in Paris. Mr Cahuzac previously said he had borrowed two thirds of the flat's worth, but in fact he paid off £400,000 straight away. Yesterday, the minister said he would publish the details of the transaction on his blog. Mr Garnier refused to discuss the Swiss bank allegations yesterday, but added: "For me, Mr Cahuzac no longer has any credibility." However Mr Cahuzac's lawyer questioned Mr Garnier's credibility, saying he had been suspended by tax authorities for making damaging claims on other local figures. He even claimed in the very same document that Jérôme Cahuzac had a villa in Marrakesh and a house in La Baule (western France). Why not a hacienda in Mexico?" said Gilles Auguste. The enmity between the two reportedly dates back to when Mr Cahuzac, as MP of the Lotte-et-Garonne, cancelled the debt of a local plum cooperative despite Mr Garnier's calls for it to be put into receivership. "The civil servant is not a servant at the service of politicians," he reportedly said. "Yes, they know each other," said Mr Cahuzac's lawyer. Mr Garnier is known in the region as he accuses a lot of people. Budget minister since President François Hollande's election in May, Mr Cahuzac has a reputation as a tough, uncompromising politician tasked with slashing state spending by 10 billion euros. He has many enemies: environment minister Cécile Duflot recently called him a "pretentious misogynist," while his abrasive manner has earned him the nickname of "the government's most hated man." Last month, he unveiled a series of sweeping anti-tax fraud and optimisation measures he said would bring an extra billion euros to state coffers. These include slapping an automatic 60 per cent levy on all undeclared sums abroad discovered by tax inspectors. These measures have nothing to do with any sort of fiscal inquisition. It's simply about a minimum amount of transparency and good faith," he told Libération.