A huge leak of confidential documents has revealed how the rich and powerful use tax havens to hide their wealth.
Eleven million documents were leaked from one of the world’s most secretive companies, Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, and were passed to German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung, which then shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).
They amount to approximately 3 terabytes of data, including corporate records, emails and more. It is about 100 times larger than the 1.7 GB of data dumped in 2010 by Wikileaks.
In amongst these records were global figures such as footballer Lionel Messi, actor Jackie Chan and those named reached the highest political tiers such as Russian president Vladamir Putin and British politicians Lord Ashcroft, Baroness Pamela Sharples and former Tory MP Michael Mates.
In their research on the panama leaks’ “Power Players”, the ICIJ focused in and explored the stories behind the use of offshore companies of politicians and their relatives and associates specifically. These totalled more than 100 in all and for each of them the consortium indicated that they had contacted them for comment.
James Ibori, Former Governor of Delta State
James Ibori, governor of Nigeria’s oil-rich Delta State from 1999 to 2007, pleaded guilty in a London court in 2012 to conspiracy to defraud and money laundering offences. Ibori admitted using his position as governor to corruptly obtain and divert up to $75 million out of Nigeria through a network of offshore companies, although authorities alleged that the total amount he embezzled may have exceeded $250 million. Ibori received a 13-year prison sentence.
Inside the Mossack Fonseca data: Offshore company figured in fraud and money laundering investigation.
Mossack Fonseca was the registered agent of four offshore companies connected to James Ibori, including Julex Foundation, of which Ibori and family members were beneficiaries. Julex was the shareholder of Stanhope Investments, a company incorporated in Niue in 2003. Ibori was also connected to Financial Advisory Group Ltd. and Hunglevest Corporation, although Mossack Fonseca’s files do not specify the exact nature of his connection. In 2008, Mossack Fonseca received a request from the Seychelles government to produce documents as part of a probe by the Crown Prosecution Service, England’s principal prosecuting authority, of Ibori and alleged criminal activities.
To continue reading, click HERE.
Culled From Mail & Guardian Africa