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Mrs Bettencourt's financial affairs have rarely been out of the media glare in recent years |
L'Oreal
heiress Liliane Bettencourt has sold a Seychelles island at the centre of a tax
evasion case, says the government of the island chain.
Mrs
Bettencourt sold D'Arros island for $60m (£39m), having bought it in 1998 for
$18m, said Seychelles Habitat Minister Christian Lionnet.
He said she
had also agreed to settle $8m in unpaid taxes from its purchase.
The island
purchase came to light in 2010 when Mrs Bettencourt was being investigated by
French tax authorities.
The
89-year-old heiress is now back in the spotlight amid allegations that she made
illicit donations to the election campaign of former French President Nicolas
Sarkozy.
Mr
Sarkozy's house was raided a month ago as part of the police investigation.
'Tax haven'
Mr Lionnet
said Mrs Bettencourt had now sold D'Arros and surrounding islands to a firm
affiliated to the Swiss-based Save Our Seas Foundation - a marine conservation
group.
In a
statement on its website, Save Our Seas said it had agreed to manage the islands, which are turtle breeding grounds, on behalf of the Seychelles
government.
It said it
would "undertake all what is necessary to protect this unique piece of
land in the world and to preserve the environmental legacy of this exceptional
group of islands in the Seychelles".
Mrs
Bettencourt's ownership of D'Arros was revealed in 2010, when media reports
claimed she had not declared the purchase to French authorities and was using
the island as a tax haven.
She has
since admitted evading tax on money held in foreign bank accounts.
With the
sale of the islands, Mrs Bettencourt has agreed to pay the Seychelles
government $8m in taxes outstanding from her purchase of the island, Mr Linnet
said.
He said she
would pay a further $10.5m in stamp duty and other taxes on the current sale.
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