“A friend lent me 2 million euros to pay off my arrears”: Adjani defends himself before his trial for tax fraud

2 million euros is the sum that Isabelle Adjani would have received in 2013 from Mamadou Diagna Ndiaye, Senegalese businessman and right-hand man of the French actress. The national prosecutor's office suspects Isabelle Adjani of having failed to declare this "donation" which the actress refuses to qualify as such. “In 2013 when I was in an impossible financial situation (…) a friend, Mr. Diagna Ndiaye, also godfather of my son born in the United States, lent me a sum of 2 million euros in order to to honor all my arrears and financial obligations,” defends the actress in the columns of Obs on Thursday. “He knew that I would be able to repay him when the time came with the fruits of my work,” says Adjani before adding: “This ten-year loan was ultimately registered as it should be with the administration tax”.

On October 19, justice will examine this case and two other disputes, including a suspicion of money laundering dating back to 2014 as well as a “fictitious domiciliation” in Carcavelos, Portugal. On this subject, the actress with five Césars is categorical. “Yes, I live in a small building that doesn't look like much (...) Sorry, I'm not the owner of a mansion with a spa, but the tenant of an apartment with a large parking lot that I created in a loft and where my whole life is stored,” she explained in another interview with Paris Match.

Isabelle Adjani, who is starring in Voleuses by Mélanie Laurent, an action film which will be released at the beginning of November on Netflix, is preparing a new album of duets with, in particular, Étienne Daho and Benjamin Biolay.