Rabat – France’s Former Culture Minister, Jack Lang, announced he will step down as the head of the Arab World Institute at the institute’s next board meeting.
The decision comes amid backlash due to an investigation French prosecutors opened concerning Lang and his daughter for alleged laundering of proceeds from aggravated tax fraud.
This followed the recent final release of the Epstein Files, in which Lang was found to have financial ties with pedophile and human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Amid the aftermath, Lang said he offered to submit his resignation at the next board meeting.
On social media, he responded that the accusations against him “are baseless, and I will demonstrate this beyond the sound and fury of the media and digital courts.”
To demonstrate his confidence in his innocence, he said he is welcoming the investigation with “serenity and even relief.”
However, the numbers present another story. Lang appeared in the documents over 670 times, with reports describing him as the “most high-profile French figure to become embroiled in the Epstein scandal following the release of the documents.”
Lang’s daughter, Caroline, a film producer who also appears in the Epstein files, resigned on Monday as head of the Independent Production Union.
Last week, the US Justice Department released what it described as the largest Epstein Files disclosure to date, with three million additional pages – including 180,0000 images and over 2,000 videos.
The department said the recent release brought the overall production to nearly 3.5 million pages when compiled with earlier releases.
Epstein was known to associate himself with a wide list of connections, from US high-profile officials and celebrities from around the world.