The French presidency has summoned Arab World Institute (AWI) President and former French culture minister Jack Lang over his ties to late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Lang said earlier this week he had been unaware of Epstein’s 2008 sex-offence conviction when they met in around 2012, describing the financier as an acquaintance interested in art and cinema introduced to him by United States film-maker Woody Allen.
The 86-year-old former minister, head of the Arab World Institute since 2013, has not been accused of wrongdoing.
He said on Wednesday that Epstein was not a friend, that he knew little about the convicted sex offender, but had found him to be “passionate about art, culture and cinema.”
However, files released by the U.S. Department of Justice last week raise questions about the AWI president’s characterisation of his relationship with Epstein.
They show Epstein and Lang corresponding intermittently between 2012 and the financier’s 2019 death by suicide in jail.
Why I regretted my ties with Epstein — Bill Gates
In an email sent by Lang to Epstein on April 7, 2017, nearly a decade after the financier was convicted of soliciting prostitution from an underage girl, he thanked Epstein for a “splendid time” the previous day.
Lang, who served multiple terms as culture and education minister between 1981 and 2002, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A source close to President Emmanuel Macron said the presidency and prime minister’s office had asked relevant ministers to summon Lang and encourage him to “think about the institution.”
The foreign ministry said it had summoned the former minister to a meeting on Sunday.
The Arab World Institute is a cultural and research institution that promotes understanding of the Arab world and is located in Paris on the banks of the Seine river.
Lang’s name appears over 600 times in the Epstein files, according to a Reuters review of the documents.
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