L’Oreal heiress sells Seychelles island linked to tax evasion scheme

The billionaire heiress to the L’Oreal beauty goods empire has sold a Seychelles island at the heart of a tax evasion case, the archipelago’s government said.

France’s richest woman, Liliane Bettencourt, sold the Indian Ocean island to an offshore company affiliated with Switzerland-based campaign group Save our Seas Foundation for €49m plus €8.5m for stamp duty and other taxes, ministers said.

Ms Bettencourt, 89, bought D’Arros island in 1997. Her ownership came to light through media reports in 2010 claiming the island was undeclared to French authorities.

Seychelles habitat minister Christian Lionnet told a news conference on Tuesday that the government ordered Ms Bettencourt to pay $8m (€6.5m) after the reports on the grounds that she had failed to properly involve the government in the purchase.

French authorities last year ordered Ms Bettencourt to pay nearly €108m in unpaid taxes after finding undeclared accounts and discovering she owned the island.

A lawyer for the Bettencourt family declined to comment on the sale when contacted.

D’Arros island, only 2km long, is due to be turned into a nature reserve after its purchase by Save our Seas.

“We are very happy because the new owners are conservation oriented, they have proven themselves with a good track record,” Seychelles environment minister Rolph Payet said.

A French investigation is looking into financial relations between Ms Bettencourt and former president Nicolas Sarkozy, whose house police raided earlier this month as part of the inquiry. In one strand, investigators are trying to establish whether Mr Sarkozy’s 2007 election campaign was funded illicitly.

— Reuters