Lawsuit Dismissed Against Owen-Jones

The Paris prosecutor’s office threw out a complaint lodged earlier this month by a L’Oréal shareholder and his Swiss distribution company against former L’Oréal chairman Lindsay Owen-Jones. Prosecutors argued that the statute of limitations concerning the alleged offenses has expired, a spokesman confirmed.

Janez Mercun’s firm Temtrade, which from 1974 to 1999 distributed some L’Oréal products in Eastern Europe, accused Owen-Jones of setting up a parallel distribution channel in Russia in 1996. Mercun and Temtrade alleged active and passive corruption, aggravated laundering, misappropriating corporate funds and breach of trust.

However, Frédérik-Karel Canoy, the lawyer representing Mercun and Temtrade, said he planned to advise his clients to request that an examining magistrate conduct a more thorough investigation. “The story is far from over,” he said.

For his part, Owen-Jones filed two separate complaints: one against Mercun for false accusation, and the second against Canoy and French daily 20 Minutes, for defamation.

As reported, a L’Oréal spokeswoman said Mercun and Temtrade’s alleged revelations date from a commercial disagreement in 1998, which was already ruled upon by a court in L’Oréal’s favor throughout five different proceedings. “The definitive decision from the highest jurisdiction [the cour de cassation] was rendered in 2003. These unfounded accusations…attempt to artificially reactivate this case, which was concluded in 2003,” she said.