 A criminal investigation was underway in France Tuesday after the disappearance of tax returns filed by prominent public figures including the daughter of President Jacques Chirac and two former prime ministers. The former finance minister Herve Gaymard, who resigned ten days ago in a row over his official residence, was also among the five whose income declarations for the year 2003 went missing from a Paris tax office some time before early February, according to justice officials. The others affected were Claude Chirac, who acts as an adviser to her father, former socialist prime ministers Laurent Fabius and Lionel Jospin, and the current European Affairs Minister in the centre-right government Claudie Haignere. After conflicting reports about the number of missing documents, Budget Minister Jean-Francois Cope said at a press conference Tuesday that from a box containing seven forms, five had been completely removed and a sixth was missing an appended sheet. |