Under mounting pressure to resign following the revelations of his connections with Jeffrey Epstein, former French culture minister Jack Lang announced on Saturday, February 7, that he is “offering” his resignation as president of the Arab World Institute (IMA) to Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot. Barrot told Le Monde on Saturday evening that he is “taking note” of this decision.
Lang, who has led the IMA since 2013, was summoned on Sunday to the Foreign Ministry at the request of President Emmanuel Macron and Prime Minister Sébastien Lecornu, after documents revealed his financial and personal links to Epstein.
“The current climate, combining personal attacks, suspicions and false equivalencies – which are all unfounded – is toxic. It revolts and disgusts me. It can only harm this magnificent institution,” Lang lamented in his letter addressed to Barrot, seen by Agence France-Presse (AFP). “In order to preserve the Arab World Institute” and “to be able to calmly refute all the accusations that are being leveled against me,” the 86-year-old former minister proposed submitting his “resignation at an upcoming extraordinary board meeting, which may also choose my successor to ensure continuity.”
Calls for his resignation had multiplied in recent days since Lang’s connections with Epstein came to light, following the release of millions of documents on January 30 by the US justice system. No charges have been brought against him, but the mention of his name 673 times in Epstein exchanges prompted many politicians to demand his departure from the IMA.
‘Unfounded’
Earlier on Saturday, Jack Lang stated that “the accusations made against [him] are unfounded.” After declaring on Monday that he “fully acknowledged (his) past ties” with the American financier, Lang said on Wednesday that he was unaware of the man’s criminal history when he met him “about 15 years ago” through filmmaker Woody Allen.
On Friday night, France’s national financial prosecutor’s office, the institution responsible for fighting tax fraud, told AFP that it had opened a preliminary investigation into his alleged financial links to Epstein.
