French film star Isabelle Adjani she is on trial tomorrow in Paris for tax evasion and money laundering, accused of presenting a donation as a loan and falsely stating that her permanent residence was in Portugal, which she categorically denies.

Her lawyers are expected to ask for the trial to be postponed because the actress has been unable to return from the US due to a “serious illness”, which has been confirmed by a New York doctor.

The 68-year-old actress had been the target of an investigation by the French authorities since 2016, due to the revelations of the Panama Papers. According to documents released at the time by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), Anjani owned a company in the British Virgin Islands. No illegality of this company was found, however, other suspicions were raised and the case was taken over by the Financial Prosecutor’s Office. At the center of the investigation was Mamadou Diagna Diahie, a powerful Senegalese businessman, president of his country’s National Olympic Committee and member of the IOC. Diagé allegedly transferred 2 million euros to Anjani, which she presented as a loan, rather than a donation, thus avoiding paying 1.2 million euros in tax. But her lawyers insist that it was really a loan “from a close friend of hers”, which has been regularly repaid to this day.

By falsely declaring that she was permanently resident in Portugal, Anjani allegedly avoided paying 236,000 euros in income tax.

Her lawyers say that “there may have been a disagreement with the tax authorities regarding her residence in 2016-17” but “today there is no outstanding debt, either in France or in Portugal”.