71
Fashion Jobs
L'OREAL GROUP
Multi-Brand Education Manager
Permanent · JOHANNESBURG
L'OREAL GROUP
E-Commerce Manager
Permanent · JOHANNESBURG
BEIERSDORF
Brand Manager
Permanent · DURBAN
G-STAR
Key Account Manager
Permanent · CAPE TOWN
ESTÉE LAUDER COMPANIES
Marketing & Sales Operations Manager (Sub Saharan Africa)
Permanent · JOHANNESBURG
ESTÉE LAUDER COMPANIES
Marketing & Sales Operations Manager (Sub Saharan Africa)
Permanent · JOHANNESBURG
PUMA
Payroll Administrator
Permanent · CAPE TOWN
ADIDAS
Senior Manager Sales: Shoe Channel - em South
Permanent · CAPE TOWN
ADIDAS
Senior HR Business Partner (6-Months Maternity Cover)
Permanent · CAPE TOWN
L'OREAL GROUP
Product Manager
Permanent · JOHANNESBURG
TREK
Country Manager
Permanent · SANDTON
L'OREAL GROUP
E-Commerce Key Account Manager
Permanent · JOHANNESBURG
ADIDAS
ic pp Data & Analytics Specialist - em
Permanent · CAPE TOWN
BEIERSDORF
Precision Marketing & Audience Specialist
Permanent · DURBAN
CLINIQUE
Clinique - Roamer - Edgars Eastgate, Gauteng - 40 Hours - Full-Time - Permanent
Permanent · JOHANNESBURG
PANDORA
Sales Assistant Ppt 96 Hours Balito
Permanent · DURBAN
L'OREAL GROUP
Data Analyst
Permanent · JOHANNESBURG
HTNK
High-End Fashion/Denim Designer
Permanent · JOHANNESBURG
H&M
Talent Acquisition Specialist
Permanent · CAPE TOWN
ADIDAS
Specialist Franchise Excellence - Ems Africa Export
Permanent · CAPE TOWN
LOVISA
Full Time Team Member | v&a Waterfront, Cape Town
Permanent · CAPE TOWN
LOVISA
Store Manager | v&a Waterfront, Cape Town
Permanent · CAPE TOWN
By
AFP
Published
Feb 12, 2021
Reading time
2 minutes
Download
Download the article
Print
Text size

Luxury giant Kering reportedly made offshore payments to managers

By
AFP
Published
Feb 12, 2021

According to a report from French newspaper Le Monde, Luxury giant Kering, the owner of Gucci, Balenciaga and Saint Laurent, used subsidiaries in Luxembourg to make offshore payments to certain managers over a period of several years. 


AFP/Archives - ERIC PIERMONT


Following the OpenLux investigation of the Grand Duchy's fiscal system undertaken by a number of European newspapers, including Le Monde, the French daily claims that Kering implemented an "offshore payment system," through which it "paid tens of millions of euros in salaries to its managers through the intermediary of a Luxembourg-based company called Castera."

In 2018, news site Mediapart already reported that Kering had paid "part of the salary of Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri" via this company, which was founded in 2000, thereby "saving on most of the social contributions that they would have paid in Italy."

Kering "confirmed to Le Monde that several other managers working at the prestigious brands owned by the group have been paid and compensated by this Luxembourg-based company, where they have never set foot," said the article. 

Castera "paid 78 million euros in salaries to these mysterious recipients, in 2018," paying "less than 1% in social contributions (...) rather than the 10% they would have paid, had they made the payment from France." Kering told the newspaper "that neither CEO François-Henri Pinault, nor his right-hand man, Jean-François Palus, are involved."

When approached by AFP, Kering said that "having subsidiaries in Luxembourg is normal" for an "international company with operations in more than 60 countries," adding, "the operations of the companies, which are very limited in number and exist for historical reasons, are perfectly legitimate and legal."

According to Le Monde, this "offshore payment system" was abandoned by Kering "in March 2019," when the company transferred "most of its Luxembourg-based assets to the Netherlands – another, slightly more opaque tax haven, where the company is not obliged to publish its accounts."

Having been sentenced to pay a record fine of 1.25 billion euros for tax evasion in Italy in 2019, Kering has been subject to an investigation concerning "the laundering of aggravated tax evasion," led by public prosecutors in France, since February of the same year. According to Le Monde, the French tax office "is demanding 150 million euros in tax adjustment for the company's French subsidiary, Yves Saint Laurent."

French tax authorities told AFP that fiscal confidentiality prevents them from confirming or denying these figures. 

Copyright © 2024 AFP. All rights reserved. All information displayed in this section (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the contents of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presses.