Arnault fury at 'vulgar' headline

Source: FT

By Scheherazade Daneshkhu in Paris

Sep 10th

The controversy over Bernard Arnault's application for Belgian citizenship showed no signs of dying down on Monday after the French billionaire said he had filed a legal complaint against a daily newspaper over an offensive headline.

Mr Arnault, head of LVMH, the luxury goods group whose brands include Louis Vuitton, Dior and Moët & Chandon, said in a statement that he had no choice but to lodge the complaint for public insults against him because the headline of the left-leaning Liberation was "extremely vulgar and violent."

Libération posted a full page picture of a smiling Mr Arnault holding a suitcase with the words, loosely translated: "Get lost, you rich jerk!"

The phrase appeared a deliberate echo of one uttered by former president Nicolas Sarkozy - regarded as a friend of Mr Arnault - to a worker who refused to shake his hand. Mr Sarkozy was caught on camera telling the worker: "Get lost, you pathetic jerk."

Mr Arnault repeated on Monday that he would continue to pay his taxes in France. He said at the weekend, when the controversy broke, that his application for Belgian citizenship was not linked to President Francois Hollande's controversial 75 per cent marginal tax rate on incomes over ?1m but related to his personal business interests in Belgium - where he has extensive ties with Albert Frère, the billionaire Belgian industrialist.

Mr Hollande said in a television interview on Sunday night that Mr Arnault: "should have thought hard about what it signifies to ask fro another nationality. We are proud of being French."

The Socialist president has had to defend his flagship tax measure against the centre right opposition and big business which have argued that it will lead to an exodus of talent.

It was the second time in a week that France's richest man has resorted to the justice system, after filing a counter-complaint against Hermès, the Birkin bags and silk scarves group, alleging "slander, blackmail and unfair competition".

This followed immediately the disclosure by Hermès of a legal complaint it had filed with the Paris relating to LVMH's purchase of its shares in 2010. LVMH holds a 22 per cent stake in the family-controlled smaller group, which opposes the shareholding, regarding it as "unfriendly" - something LVMH denies.