Dieudonne
Dieudonne

A police raid on the country house of the anti-Semitic French comedian Dieudonné has uncovered more than £500,000 in cash, according to a judiciary source.

Investigators allegedly discovered €600,000 (£495,000) and $15,000 (£9,111) in notes during their sweep of the property in Eure-et-Loir, 60 miles west of Paris.

Police had launched a series of raids on the comedian's theatre in the east of the French capital, as well as several homes, offices and studios. Dieudonne is under investigation for money-laundering and engineering bankruptcy to avoid paying taxes and fines.

Dieudonné's lawyer, Jacques Verdier, challenged the figure as "exaggerated". He also said that the money came from the "box office".

Possessing such a large sum of money is perfectly legal but poses a moral question for the comedian, who invented the controversial anti-Semitic gesture quenelle.

Dieudonne is under investigation for fraudulently organising his own bankruptcy. He already has six convictions for hatred against Jews and has to pay €65,000 (£53,000) in related fines.

Last year he called on fans to finance the settlement of his debts to the government.

Earlier this month, the 47-year-old comic was prevented from performing his show, entitled The Wall, in the city of Nantes by France's top court.

The Council of State upheld the ban, despite a previous ruling from a court in Nantes that The Wall did not have "an attack on human dignity as its main object".

'Embodying his own anti-Semitism'

Commentators were quick to mock Dieudonne's latest legal difficulty. Marc Goldberg, a copywriter living in Tel Aviv, wrote in his blog:

"The irony in Dieudonne's anti-Semitism is that he himself is the embodiment of one of his own anti-Semitic tropes.

"After saying on stage "all you have to do is roll up your sleeve and show a concentration camp number for the money to come rolling in" it is worth paying his finances a little scrutiny."

Dieudonné's business had a turnover of €1.8m and a profit of €230,000 in 2012.

The son of a Cameroonian father and a Breton mother, Dieudonné remains very popular in France, especially among the young and migrant communities. His shows are often sold out.

His trademark gesture, known as la Quenelle and described by his critics as an inverted Nazi salute, has been emulated by scores of people from Anelka and NBA star Tony Parker to the founder of France's far-right National Front party, Jean-Marie Le Pen.