Liliane Bettencourt, the 89 year old L’Oreal heiress who was at the center of a corruption and tax fraud investigation, has recently sold her collection of private islands in the Seychelles, some 155 miles southwest of Mahe Island. When she first bought the islands back in 1998, she paid £18 million for them, but paid no taxes for the purchase.
These islands were part of over €100 million in undeclared funds, for which tax authorities decided not to pursue criminal charges. France’s richest woman resold the islands in the Indian Ocean for £60 million, and agreed to pay £8 million in unpaid taxes to the Seychelles government, plus £10 million in tax on the latest sale.
The company which bought the properties is called Chelomia Company Ltd, and it is affiliated with the Save our Seas Foundation in Geneva. Apparently, the islands will be proclaimed a nature reserve, and they will be managed by the Seychelles Ministry of Environment and Energy in close collaboration with Save our Seas Foundation.
