It's been reported that:

L'Oreal is facing renewed accusations in the French Court of Appeal in Paris that it illegally sold luxury cosmetics in Russia and then diverting the profits through screen companies and tax havens.

It's former trading partner in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus between 1974 and 1999, estimates that the allegedly illegal sales to amount to €110m for the 1994-1999 period.

Admittedly that partner presented the same allegations to the French appeal court in 2002 and the case was dismissed. It has accused L'Oreal of intentionally breaking a distribution agreement so it could illegally sell its brands on the grey market and siphon off the profits to unidentified beneficiaries via screen companies and tax havens. Now it says it has new evidence that proves its case.

It's reported that:

L'Oreal is waiting with confidence and serenity for the normal outcome of these proceedings

Maybe it is. I am in no position to judge but I can say that it's odd that someone should be so persistent in bringing a claim if they really think they have no basis for making it.

And the case highlights a use of tax havens by the commercial world which is not often talked about, which is that they can be used to obscure the true nature of commercial dealings even if tax is never avoided. Of course, one other plus is that the very secrecy that protects the hidden commercial deal also makes the breach hard to challenge, as L'Oreal's pursuer is no doubt finding.

It's another reason why the secrecy tax havens promote should be banned. Openness is the basis of trust on which markets can survive. Tax havens seek to destroy that trust. In that way they operate like a cancer in the market system.