Jack Lang summoned over past ties with Jeffrey Epstein

Jack Lang, president of the Arab World Institute (IMA) in France and former minister of culture, will be received on Sunday at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to explain his past ties with American financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot announced on Friday, according to AFP.

Lang “has been summoned by the ministry and will be received on Sunday,” Barrot said from Erbil, in Iraqi Kurdistan, where he is on an official visit, CE Report quotes AGERPRES.

Calls for Lang’s resignation have multiplied after his links to Epstein were revealed following the publication of millions of documents by the US Department of Justice.

On Thursday evening, the French executive indicated that the 86-year-old Lang should “think about the institution” he has headed since 2013. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which subsidizes half of the IMA’s budget, later announced that Lang would be summoned, without specifying a date.

On Wednesday, Jack Lang officially ruled out resigning, citing his “naivety” regarding his ties with Epstein, who died in custody in 2019.

There are no official accusations against Jack Lang and, according to AFP, his presence in some of the published documents does not imply any wrongdoing on his part.

However, the mention of Lang’s name 673 times and his links to Epstein have seriously damaged his public image.

The same has happened to his daughter, Caroline, who resigned on Monday from the leadership of a film producers’ union following revelations about an offshore company she set up in 2016 with Epstein.