Two business leaders were sentenced on Tuesday by the Paris Criminal Court to suspended prison sentences and several hundred thousand euros in fines for laundering tax fraud in the context of the “Dubai papers”.
Yves Mouriès, 75, former CEO of the fashion brand Aigle, was given a 15-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 300,000 euros for “laundering of tax fraud” and “laundering of aggravated tax fraud” between 2009 and 2012 .
The sentence, proposed by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office (PNF) as part of an appearance with prior admission of guilt (CRPC), plead guilty to the French, was approved by a judge of the seat.
Mr. Mouriès “acknowledged” having concealed 6.8 million euros from the tax authorities, ie 3.2 million euros in taxes evaded by counting the penalties, which have already been the subject of a tax adjustment of more than 3 million euros.
This concealment was made within the framework of an international tax fraud laundering network established from the beginning of the 2000s around the Helin group, based in the United Arab Emirates, whose existence had been revealed by the Obs and Radio France in September 2018, based on the “Dubai Papers”, a leak of 200,000 files, memos, emails, letters and faxes.
In hearing, Mr. Mouriès “fully acknowledged the facts, did not seek to minimize his responsibility, collaborated” with the financial investigators, underlined the representative of the PNF.
The person concerned had reported his situation to the tax authorities after the press articles on these Dubai Papers, but before the revelation of a criminal investigation.
Another company director, Jean-Louis Chagnaud, 60, was given a ten-month suspended prison sentence and a fine of 200,000 euros for concealing from the tax authorities a family donation of an amount of nearly three million euros, which had also taken the Helin circuit.
Mr. Chagnaud had reported to the tax authorities, “even before the Dubai Papers came out in the press” and was the subject of a tax adjustment in November 2019 to the tune of 1.9 million euros. euros.
In mid-January, the PNF called on French taxpayers who had used the Helin company to approach it before April 30. According to a source familiar with the matter, only one has come forward to date.
In total, around forty complaints were transmitted by the tax administration, sometimes concerning several taxpayers, and at least 71 searches carried out, while four taxpayers had already been sentenced to suspended imprisonment and fines between September 2021 and June 2022.