D’Arros Island reportedly sold
Former retreat for royals and L’Oréal ‘queen’
Villa and swimming pool on D'Arros island
D’Arros Island, part of the Amirantes Group, has reportedly been sold to an international business group from the Middle East who already has business interests in the Seychelles tourism industry.
Since the sale of this island has not been officially reported by the Seychelles Government, our newspaper contacted several official Government sources to request further information. However. everyone contacted refused to confirm the transaction, stressing that the issue was a ‘sensitive matter’..
The island of D’Arros lies some 255 kilometers Southwest of Mahé and only 45 kilometres from Desroches lsland resort. It is only 2 kilometres from the beautiful St. Joseph Atoll which consists of a lagoon and several adjoining islands of exceptional beauty, rich in marine life and also a colony for sea birds such as frigates, fairy terns, crested
terns, tropic birds and lesser noddies.
Once owned by a prominent local Seychellois family, the island was purchased in 1975 by Prince Shabram Pahlavi-nia of Iran, the nephew of the former Shah of Iran. The island was subsequently purchased by French billionaire Liliane Bettencourt, the daughter of founder and main shareholder of beauty product L’Oreal.
A few years ago, the French financial police, charged with investigating a possible theft of Liliane Betteiicourt by her protégé photographer Francois Marie Banier, discovered that the island had been purchased but not declared to the French tax authorities. Further investigation revealed that the transaction had been done through a Bettencourt company in Liechtenstein, therefore avoiding any payment of taxes to the French Government.
Amidst the controversy, local newspaper Seychelles Weekly also reported that the authorities in Seychelles were unaware of the sale to Mrs. Bettencourt and that stamp duty had not been paid to the Seychelles Government.
This latest reported sale, if true, would certainly raise further the eyebrows of concern with questions being asked as to perhaps why the Seychelles Government did not buy back the property.
Source: Today.sc 6-28-12