French pop star Johnny Hallyday has sparked a political row in France after announcing his intention to move to Switzerland to escape paying tax in his home country.
The singer is known to be a supporter of centre right minister Nicolas Sarkozy, the favoured candidate to stand on behalf of his party, the UMP, in next year's presidential election, provoking rival socialist leader Francois Hollande to joke that Hallyday's decision to leave the country was "a really nice way to support his chosen candidate". Speaking to a French radio station Mr Hollande continued: "If he really thought Nicolas Sarkozy could win, and was so convinced by his policies, he only had to wait four months."
Left-wing candidate Segolene Royal, meanwhile, claims to have deliberately avoided "having as a friend someone who escapes to Switzerland to pay their taxes".
Hallyday, who has sold more than 100 million albums over the course of his forty year career, will spend six months and a day each year in Switzerland in order to avoid French taxes. In September, the singer posed for photographs with Sarkozy in support of his campaign, but said he would leave France if his candidate Sarkozy failed to keep his campaign promises.