Secret records obtained by the International Consortium of
Investigative Journalists reveal tens of thousands of people in more than 170
countries and territories linked to offshore companies and trusts. Here are
some examples from around the world: source www.icij.org
Australia
Paul Hogan
Actor
Details:
The Crocodile Dundee star is accusing Philip Egglishaw,
his once-trusted tax adviser, of disappearing with $34 million he helped Hogan
hide in offshore tax havens. Egglishaw is alleged to have ''absconded with or
spent all'' of Hogan's millions.
Offshore business: Carthage
Trust was set up for Hogan in 2005 by Egglishaw after the Crime Commission and
Tax office began stepping up their inquiries into the actor. Carthage
Trust replaced the Quatre Saison Trust which was alleged to have been a vehicle
set up by Geneva firm Strachans to enable Hogan to stream revenue from his Crocodile Dundee franchise into
offshore accounts and avoid paying tax. Hogan
disputes this.
Comment: Hogan's
US lawyer Craig Emanuel told Fairfax Media: ''For a variety of ethical reasons,
I am not available to comment on your inquiries.''
Azerbaijan
Ilham AliyevIlham Aliyev, Mehriban Aliyeva, Arzu Aliyeva and
Leyla Aliyeva
Ruling family
Details: Ilham
Aliyev is the president of Azerbaijan and Mehriban Aliyeva is his wife. Arzu
and Leyla are the couple's daughters. The Aliyev family, beginning with Ilham’s
father, Heydar Aliyev, has held power in Azerbaijan almost without interruption
since the late 1960s.
Offshore business: Ilham
Aliyev and Mehriban Aliyeva were directors of Rosamund International Ltd (2003)
in the British Virgin Islands. Arzu Aliyeva was a director and shareholder of
BVI company Arbor Investments (2008). Leyla Aliyeva was director and
shareholder of LaBelleza Holdings Ltd. (2008) and Harvard Management Ltd.
(2008) both in the BVI.
Comment: Ilham
Aliyev, Mehriban Aliyeva, Arzu Aliyeva and Leyla Aliyeva did not respond to
ICIJ’s requests for comment.
Belgium
Santosh Kumar Agarwal (Kedia)
Businessman
Details: Santosh
Kumar Agarwal was on the board of directors for the Antwerp World Diamond
Centre. He has withdrawn from the board, pending the results of a possible investigation.
Offshore business: In 2008, Agarwal created the Platinum Estate Trust in Singapore,
acting as the settlor, protector and a beneficiary of the trust.
Comment: Agarwal
declined to comment.
Brazil
Clarice, Leo and Fabio
Steinbruch
Businessmen
Details: Members
of one of Brazil's richest families, which owns large steel and textile
companies and a bank.
Offshore business: Shareholders
and directors of Peak Management Inc. (2007) in the British Virgin Islands.
Comment: Leo
Steinbruch told ICIJ that “Peak Management exists, is active, it’s been
declared on its owners’ tax forms and has been duly disclosed to the Brazilian
Central Bank as a Brazilian investment abroad.”
Canada
Tony MerchantE.F. Anthony “Tony” Merchant
Trial lawyer
Details: A
former politician, he is married to Canadian senator Pana Merchant. He has been
involved in a number of high-volume class action suits, including a $1.9
billion settlement with the Canadian government on behalf of native groups
over abuse of students in residential schools. Merchant has had
repeated battles with the Canadian revenue agency over his tax payments. He has
also been disciplined by the Law Society for "conduct unbecoming of a
member."
Offshore business: Beneficiary
(1998-2002), settlor and protector of the Merchant (2000) US Inc Trust
(incorporated 1998) in the Cook Islands. His wife, Canadian senator Pana
Merchant, is a beneficiary of the trust.
Comment: Anthony
and Pana Merchant declined to comment.
Colombia
Alvaro Uribe and his sons.Tomás Uribe
Moreno and Jerónimo Alberto Uribe Moreno
Businessmen
Details: Sons
of former Colombian president, Alvaro Uribe. During their father’s eight years
in office, they were accused of influence-peddling in two high-profile
scandals, including in a case in which they acquired land in an area whose
value skyrocketed after authorities granted it tax-free status. They were
acquitted in both cases but prosecutors have started investigating new leads
related to the land acquisitions.
Offshore business: Shareholders
of Asia America Investment Corporation (2008) in the British Virgin Islands.
Comment: A
lawyer for Tomás and Jerónimo Uribe Moreno, Jaime Lombana, said the company was
created with the purpose of selling Colombian handcrafts abroad but the
business never took off. The company was incorporated in the BVI because one of
the partners in the venture lived there, said Lombana. The firm, he said,
“didn’t produce any income.”
Djibouti
Abdourahman "Charles" Boreh Abdourahman
"Charles"
Boreh
Businessman and
politician
Details: One of
Djibouti's most wealthy and powerful businessmen and a 2011 presidential
election candidate. He is exiled in
Dubai.
Offshore business: Beneficial
owner of Net Support Holdings Ltd (2007) in the British Virgin Islands and
Value Additions Ltd (2007) in Samoa
Comment: Boreh
said he uses his offshore companies to steer his many investments worldwide and
to protect his assets from potential political instability.
Fiji
Fred Marafono Fred
Marafono
Mercenary
Details: Ex-British
SAS, he was involved in security work and diamond mining during the Sierra
Leone civil war.
Offshore business: Director
of Hinterland Mining Brokers Limited (1997-2000) in the Cook Islands.
Comment: Marafono
passed away on March 27; earlier attempts to reach him for comment were
unsuccessful.
Finland
Itella Oyj
State-owned national
postal company
Details: In
a 2008 move to expand its operations in Russia, the corporation acquired the
leading Russian logistics warehousing service provider for around €200
million ($310 million). Its parent company was registered in the British
Virgin Islands and still exists there.
Offshore business: Shareholder
(since 2008) of NLC International Corporation (incorporated 2005) in the
British Virgin Islands.
Comment: The
director of Itella Logistics in Russia, Vesa Vertanen, said in an interview
with Finnish State Television that Itella would dissolve the company in the BVI
by the end of 2013 and transfer it to Cyprus. When asked why Itella had not
dissolved its company in the BVI, Mr Vertanen said that it was very complicated
to dissolve offshore companies and it takes time, a statement that was
countered by the Finnish tax authority.
France
Jean-Jacques AugierJean-Jacques Augier
Publisher
Details: Campaign
treasurer of François Hollande for the 2012 presidential elections. They
studied together at the prestigious National School of Management (ENA). He’s
also chief executive officer of investment holding company Eurane SA, mainly
focused on the publishing field.
Offshore business: Shareholder
— through Eurane SA — and director of International Bookstores Ltd (2005) in
the Cayman Islands.
Comment: Jean-Jacques
Augier said he used the company to do a large investment in China in 2005. One
of his partners in the offshore firm was Xi Shu, a businessman and a member of
the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a political advisory
body in China dominated by the Communist Party but with representatives from
other parties and organizations.
Baron Elie de RothschildBaron Elie de Rothschild
Businessman from the
Rothschild banking dynasty
Details: The
guardian of French branch of banking dynasty built a web of at least 20
secrecy-cloaked trusts in the South Pacific between 1996 and 2003, some of
which continued operating after his death in 1997.
Offshore business: Internal
documents reveal at least 20 trusts and 10 holding companies were set up for
Rothschild in the Cook Islands, with typically opaque names including,
fittingly, Anon Trust. The companies have a
common shareholder called Mandalor Limited, an equally opaque
company based in the Caribbean country of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.
Comment: Despite
repeated attempts, Le Monde was
unable to speak to Rothschild’s heirs.
Georgia
Bidzina Ivanishvili
Prime Minister
Bidzina Ivanishvili
Details: Georgia’s
richest man, with a net worth estimated by Forbes magazine at more
than $5 billion. Was elected prime minister in October 2012, straight from the
business world.
Offshore business: Director
of Bosherston Overseas Corp. in the British Virgin Islands (2006). The company
is still in existence, according to BVI records.
Comment: “For the reporting
period of 2011-2012 Prime Minister Ivanishvili had no interest in the company
you have mentioned in your inquiry and therefore there was no obligation to
report it in his declaration. The Prime Minister takes these reporting
requirements seriously and everything is done according to the law,” a
spokesman said.
Germany
Gunter SachsGunter Sachs
Millionaire author,
photographer, industrialist and ex-husband of Brigitte Bardot
Details: The
famous Gunter Sachs is revealed to have had a vast and inscrutable
wealth-hiding web, involving nominee directors, shell companies, and law firm
trustees, to create multiple layers of secrecy in an already secret world.
Offshore business: Sachs
commissioned a private secretary to oversee his business dealings, who
travelled to the Cook Islands to create two shell corporations, Triton
Ltd. and another company called Tantris Ltd. The companies acted as trustees
for five trusts set up between 1994 and 2007 – the Moon Crystal Trust, the
Espan Water Trust, the Sequoia Trust, the Triton Trust and the Parkland Oak
Trust. Sachs’s vast offshore web has been visualized here.
Comment: Before
he died, Sachs asserted he was being persecuted and the investigations stemmed
from envy. Swiss fiscal law expert Andreas Kolb says the signing lawyers will
face legal consequences over the inventory of Sachs’s estate, “if they can be
proven to have participated in or incited to tax fraud”.
Greece
Apostolos VakakisApostolos Vakakis
Businessman
Details: CEO
of the retail conglomerate Jumbo SA, one of Greece’s largest companies.
Offshore business: Shareholder
of Karpathia Ltd. (2007) in the British Virgin Islands. Company transferred to
another offshore service provider in 2009.
Comment: “I have
declared officially all without exception my transactions that should be
announced in public, as provided by relevant Greek legislation. … One does not
use a legal entity in order to hide the identity of the beneficial owner by
using shadow names but to be able to complete a transaction in a
straightforward manner,” said Vakakis.
India
Ravikant RuiaRavikant Ruia
Businessman
Details: In
December 2011, he was accused of criminal conspiracy by India's principal
anti-corruption enforcement agency, the Central Bureau of Investigation. The
accusation relates to a broader investigation of politicians, government
officials and telecom executives in India for alleged irregularities in the
award of cell phone frequencies to telephone companies. Ruia’s firm is
disputing the charges made against him and others.
Offshore business: Shareholder
in one firm in the British Virgin Islands, Orion Worldwide Universal
Corporation (2008). His daughter, Smiti, is a shareholder in two others. One of
Ruia's flagship companies, Essar Power, has further BVI entities that are named
in the ICIJ documents.
Comment: A
company spokesman said that of the eight companies registered in Ruia’s name as
well as in the name of his flagship business Essar Power, five have since been
liquidated. Three continue to be operational. “These companies were started as
SPVs [Special Purpose Vehicles] to make investments and are in the knowledge of
the authorities concerned,” the spokesman added.
Indonesia
Eka Tjipta Widjaja Eka Tjipta
Widjaja
Businessman
Details: Head
of Indonesia’s second richest family (2012), owns rainforest-clearing Asia Pulp
and Paper and world's second largest palm oil plantations.
Offshore business: Beneficial
owner, through his Sinar Mas conglomerate, of various pulp and palm oil British
Virgin Islands and Labuan offshore companies.
Comment: Widjaja
did not respond to a request for comment.
Italy
Fabio GhioniFabio Ghioni
Hacker
Details: Former
head of information security at Telecom Italia, arrested in 2007 for leading a
unit that illegally obtained data of 4,000 people, including politicians and
journalists. In 2012 the Supreme Court of Cassation confirmed his 2010 plea
bargain and his sentence of 3 years and 4 months in prison.
Offshore business: Owner
of Constant Surge Investments Ltd (2006) in the British Virgin Islands.
Comment: Fabio
Ghioni denied being the owner of Constant Surge Invesments Ltd. “The BVI? I
don't know where they are located!" he said on the phone. ICIJ verified
Ghioni’s connection to the BVI firm through the address he used upon
incorporation of the company which is that of his personal residence in Milan.
The corporate files also include annotations describing Ghioni’s occupation at
the time.
Japan
Marubeni Corp and Tohoku Electric Power Co.
Trading and utility companies
Details: Marubeni Corp., a leading
trading house, and utility Tohoku Electric Power Co., used offshore
subsidiaries to invest in an overseas energy firm, allowing returns on the
investment to be shielded from domestic taxes.
Offshore business: Tohoku
Electric established a subsidiary, Tohoku Power Investment Co. (TPIC), in the
Netherlands in 2002 to invest 3 billion yen ($32.6 million) in an independent
power producer in Millmerran in Queensland, Australia. The utility funneled the
sum to an investment arm of Marubeni, which was founded in Labuan Island in
Malaysia, also a tax haven, through TPIC.
Comment: While
refusing to disclose their investment profits, Tohoku Electric confirmed that
an agent had been contracted to operate on financial matters, saying “We
concluded the contract in compliance with the law, and it was already in place
before we made the investment (in Australia). And we have little knowledge of
the background of it." Marubeni Corp declined to comment.
Jordan
The Shoman familySuha, Omar and Aysha
Shoman
Widow and children of one
of Jordan’s richest families
Details: The
family’s father, Khalid Shoman, was — until his death in 2001 — vice-chairman
of the Arab Bank Group, one of the main banks in the Arab world, founded by his
father. Omar sold their share of the bank for about $375 million in 2003.
Offshore business: Omar
and Aysha are shareholders — jointly or on their own — of 12 companies in the
British Virgin Islands, including OS Investments Inc. (2002), OAKS Inc. (2003),
Fisch Investments Inc. (2005) and OS Tech Inc. (2006). Their mother is
connected with two of the firms as a shareholder and one as a director. Most
entities were transferred to another offshore service provider between 2007 and
2009.
Comment: Omar
Shoman didn’t reply to requests to comment through his assistant and email. The
ICIJ could not locate Aysha Shoman and could not reach Suha Shoman on the phone
despite several attempts.
Kazakhstan
Mukhtar AblyazovMukhtar Ablyazov
Businessman
Details: Ablyazov
stands accused of embezzling up to $5 billion from a state-owned Kazakhstan
bank in what British media describe as the biggest fraud in history.
Offshore business: An
individual later named in U.K. court documents as a front man for Mukhtar
Ablyazov set up 31 companies in 2006 and 2007 in the British Virgin Islands.
Comment: Ablyazov's
attorneys in London did not respond to a request for comment. Ablyazov has
denied the fraud allegations in the past.
Kuwait
Malaysia
Mirzan Bin Mahathir
Mirzan Bin Mahathir
Businessman
Details: Son
of Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, the longest-serving prime minister of Malaysia
(1981-2003), who modernized the country under an autocratic rule. Mahathir
Mohamad was accused of abusing his extensive political powers to enrich his
family and key business associates. Mirzan is a prominent entrepreneur, with
directorships in various companies in Malaysia and internationally.
Offshore business: Shareholder
and director of Utara Capital Limited (1997), Crescent Energy Limited (2003),
and Al Sadd Investments Pte. Ltd. (2009) in Labuan.
Comment: An
aide for Mirzan told Malaysiakini and
ICIJ that Mirzan could not answer questions because he was out of
town.
Raja Nong
Chik Zainal Abidin
Raja Nong Chik Zainal AbidinFederal Territories and Urban Well-Being
Minister
Background: Prior
to his senatorship, Raja Nong Chik was a corporate figure who founded and
managed an engineering firm for 20 years.
Offshore business: Raja
Nong Chik is shareholder and director of RZA International Corporation, a
British Virgin Islands entity incorporated on Aug 21, 2007, through Singapore.
The company is a mirror of Malaysian entity Kumpulan RZA Sdn Bhd, a
1979-founded company dealing in real estate and equities investment. He set up
the offshore entity with his father, Raja Zainal Abidin Raja Tachik, a number
of his sisters and brothers as well as other family members. Most of them are
also shareholders and directors of Kumpulan RZA Sdn Bhd.
Comment: Contacted
by Malaysiakini, the
minister confirmed that RZA International was set up by his father, who will
turn 96 this year, “for the purpose of holding legitimate offshore investments
for the family.” However, the minister did not elaborate on the offshore
investments made by his family through the company. He added that RZA
International was de-registered in 2009. “The company was not used to obscure
activities of Kumpulan RZA Sdn Bhd, and neither was it used to circumvent taxes
or hide transactions overseas,” Raja Nong Chik said in an email to Malaysiakini.
Chia Tien Foh (Michael Chia)
Business tycoon
Background: Chia
is a prominent Malaysian businessman and the alleged ‘“bagman'” for Musa Aman,
the chief minister and financl minister of the state of Sabah.
Offshore business: Chia
has three offshore companies in which he is listed as either as director or
shareholder. One of them was CTF International Ltd, with ‘“CTF'” seen as the
initials of Chia’s full name. It was incorporated on April 18, 20067, in the
British Virgin Islands. CTF International gained notoriety when it was named by
whistleblower website Sarawak Report of being a conduit in channelling
millions of ringgit to a Hong Kong account allegedly linked to Musa, who has
denied links to Chia. CTF was de-registered in 2008. The other two offshore
companies owned by Chia are Ravenswood Development Ltd and Ark Capital
Technologies Ltd. In addition, Chia’s wife Yap Loo Mien and another woman, who
is alleged to be his mistress, Yap Siaw Lin, also appear on the list as key
shareholders in three separate British Virgin Islands entities.
Comment: Malaysiakini contacted Chia through the address
stated in his company registration documents for comments, but there has been
no response.
Mexico
Dionisio Garza MedinaDionisio Garza Medina
Businessman
Details: His
family co-owns Alfa, a conglomerate with interests in oil, food
and telecommunications.
Offshore business: Shareholder
of Vercors Private Limited (2005) in Singapore.
Comment: Garza
Medina did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for Alfa, of which
Garza Medina was CEO until 2010, declined to answer questions saying this is a
“private matter of Mr. Garza not related to Alfa.”
Mongolia
Bayartsogt SangajavBayartsogt Sangajav
Politician
Details: Became
his country’s finance minister in September 2008, a position he held until a
cabinet reshuffle in August 2012. During those years he attended international
meetings and served as a governor of the Asian Development Bank, pushing the
case for his poor nation to receive foreign development assistance and
investment. He was at the forefront of encouraging foreign mining and other
companies to move into Mongolia. He currently serves as deputy speaker of the
Mongolian Parliament.
Offshore business: Bayartsogt
Sangajav controlled Legend Plus Capital Limited, an offshore company
administered from Hong Kong but incorporated in the British Virgin Islands (2008).
The documents show the company was used to open a secret Swiss bank account,
controlled by Bayartsogt, just months before he was appointed his country’s
minister of finance.
Comment: Bayartsogt
said the company and the bank account were set up as a syndicate by him and
three unnamed business friends to trade in stocks. Both the bank account and
the company remain in his name, and he did not declare them to Parliament,
something he now describes as a “mistake.” He said he was considering resigning
from Parliament over the issue.
Myanmar/Burma
Aye Zaw
Win
Son-in-law of Burma's
former dictator Ne Win
Details: General
Ne Win was a military strongman who ruled Burma during three decades,
1962-1988. His family became wealthy through business activities including
forestry and fisheries.
Offshore business: Shareholder
of Compass Point Finance Limited (1996) and Sky-Link Communications Ltd. (1997)
in the British Virgin Islands. The companies were transferred to another
offshore service provider, but the records do not provide a date.
Comment: Aye
Zaw Win could not be reached for comment despite multiple attempts.
Pakistan
Moonis ElahiMoonis Elahi
Legislator
Details: Son of
Chaudry Pervez Elahi, who until last month was Pakistan's deputy prime minister.
The Chaudry family has had a powerful role in the country’s politics for the
past five decades. In 2010, Moonis Elahi was accused of receiving illicit
payments as part of an alleged land scam. He was later acquitted amidst what
Pakistan's Supreme Court said was intense government interference in the
investigation.
Offshore business: Shareholder
and director of Olive Groves Assets Ltd. (2006) in the British Virgin Islands.
Comment: Moonis
Elahi denied that he owns or controls Olive Grove Assets Ltd. He did not answer
whether he had owned the firm in the past. ICIJ verified Elahi’s connection to
the firm through the address listed for the politician in the corporate
records, which is that of the Chaudry family residence in Lahore.
Philippines
Imee MarcosMaria Imelda Marcos Manotoc
Politician
Details: Daughter
of former Philippines dictator Ferdinand Marcos and at present governor of the
province of Ilocos Norte.
Offshore business: Beneficiary
and investment advisor to Sintra Trust (2002) in the British Virgin Islands.
She was also a financial advisor for a company in which the Sintra Trust was a
shareholder, ComCentre Corporation (2002), and a “master client” for the M
Trust in Labuan, Malaysia (2007-2009).
Comment: Manotoc
did not respond to a request for comment.
Russia
Olga Shuvalova
Wife of Russian Deputy Prime Minister
Detail:
Wife of Igor Shuvalov, who has served as first deputy prime minister since
2008.
Offshore business: Shareholder in Severin
Enterprises Inc., which was registered
in the British Virgin Islands and owned at least two other offshore companies,
which in turn owned more companies. The dealings of one of the companies,
Sevenkey Ltd., were laid out in a 2011 investigative article in Barron’s, which tied the company to her husband, who
has denied wrongdoing.
Comment: Olga
Shuvalova did not respond to ICIJ’s requests for comment.
Valery GolubevValery
Golubev and Boris Paikin
Gazprom executives
Detail:
Golubev is the deputy chair of the management committee of Gazprom, with
personal ties to Putin dating back to the 1990s. Paikin is the general director
of a Gazprom construction subsidiary called Gazprom Sotsinvest that builds
projects such as a $200 million stadium in St. Petersburg and an Olympic ski
resort.
Comment: Golubev
and Paikin did not respond to ICIJ’s requests for comment.
Slovenia
Zoltan Varga
Executive Managing Director and Head of Asian Investing for
Och-Ziff Capital Management Group LLC
Details:
Based in Hong Kong, Varga is a partner at Och-Ziff, one of the largest
investment funds in the world.
Offshore business: Internal documents reveal Varga purchased
three offshore companies, Bofita Limited, Trend Express Holdings
Limited and Garden Town Trading Limited, in November 2007. He also has a
yacht called Pershing 50,
registered in Gibraltar, another tax haven.
Comment:
Varga declined to comment.
South Africa/Zimbabwe
"Billy" RautenbachMuller Conrad "Billy"
Rautenbach
Businessman
Details: Zimbabwean
millionaire with close links to the Mugabe regime. The United States
blacklisted him saying he has helped organized huge mining projects in Zimbabwe
that “benefit a small number of corrupt senior officials.” Rautenbach fled
South Africa in 1999 after being accused of fraud. The charges lodged
personally against him were dismissed, but a South African company he
controlled pleaded guilty to criminal charges and paid a fine of roughly $4
million.
Offshore business: Shareholder
of Artemis Group, LTD. (2006) in the British Virgin Islands.
Comment: Rautenbach
denies U.S. authorities’ allegations, contending that they made “significant
factual and legal errors” in their blacklisting decision, his attorney, Ian
Small Smith, said. Smith said Rautenbach’s BVI company was set up as “special
purpose vehicle for investment in Moscow” and that it complied with all
disclosure regulations. The company is no longer active.
Spain
Carmen Thyssen-BornemiszaCarmen Thyssen-Bornemisza
Art collector and
philanthropist
Details: Former
Miss Spain and widow of a German-Hungarian baron, she’s one of the world’s top
art collectors. Her hundreds of works of art ranging from Van Gogh to Goya are
exhibited in museums in Madrid, Barcelona and Málaga.
Offshore business: Beneficial
owner of Sargasso Trustees Limited (1996-2004) and shareholder of Nautilus
Limited (incorporated 1994) in the Cook Islands.
Comment: Carmen
Thyssen-Bornemisza’s lawyer acknowledged that she gains tax benefits by holding
ownership of her art offshore, but stressed that she uses tax havens primarily
because they give her “maximum flexibility” when she moves art from country to
country.
Tanzania
Mehbub Yusufali ManjiMehbub Yusufali Manji
Businessman
Details: The
Manji family is one of the richest in Tanzania. It started Quality Group
Limited, the country’s major conglomerate with interests ranging from
automotive to food processing.
Offshore business: Director
and shareholder of Intertrade Commercial Services Inc. (2007-2009) in the
British Virgin Islands.
Comment: Yusuf
Manji, chairman and CEO of the company, did not reply to ICIJ’s emailed request
for comment. The contact address in the records is that of the company in
Dar-Es-Salaam.
Thailand
Nalinee
TaveesinNalinee Taveesin
International trade representative, former government minister
Details: In 2008, Taveesin was designated as one of four
“Mugabe regime cronies” by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of
Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). The OFAC statement
read, “Nalinee Taveesin has participated in a number of initiatives on
corruption and growth challenges in Africa and Southeast Asia while secretly
supporting the kleptocratic practices of one of Africa’s most corrupt regimes.”
This statement became a point of
controversy in Thailand when Taveesin was appointed minister for the prime
minister’s office in January 2012. She strongly denied the allegations, saying
that her relationship with Zimbabwean dictator Robert
Mugabe and his wife is “strictly social” and that she is a victim of guilt by
association.
Offshore business: Taveesin
and her brother Anuraj Mishra in 2008 bought a company called Hall Kingston International Limited that
had recently been incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. They appear in
the documents as directors and shareholders. The offshore company was acquired
shortly after Taveesin’s first appointment to a political position, as
secretary to the commerce minister in 2008. The company does not appear in her
2012 public statement of assets. Though the company still exists, according to
records in the BVI, it is unclear whether it had to be publicly declared.
Comment: Taveesin’s
secretary Ms. Supavadee responded that “She [Taveesin]
strongly affirmed that she had neither known nor heard about this so-called
Hall Kingston. The information about her being [a company] shareholder is
incorrect,” When asked if it was possible that Taveesin’s brother, Anuraj
Mishra, was a shareholder of Hall Kingston International Limited, Supavadee
repeated, “She [Taveesin] had no knowledge about the company and none of her
family members were involved in the company.”
Adm.
Banawit Kengrian
Former Deputy Permanent Secretary of Defense
Background:
Kengrian was appointed a member of the National Legislative Council after the
military coup in 2006. He resigned as a naval officer in 2007 but was later
appointed chairperson of a transportation committee under the National
Legislative Council with a mandate to investigate corruption cases within the
Ministry of Transportation that had allegedly occurred under the previous
government led by Shinawatra.
Offshore
business: Kengrian is listed as one of many
shareholders in the British Virgin Islands company Vnet Capital International
Co., Ltd in 1998.There is no suggestion Kengrian avoided his disclosure
responsibilities.
Comment: Kengrian said he had bought a small stake in the
company as a personal investment. “I have never gotten involved with company
management,” he said. “As far as I understand, the company has changed status.
It has merged with another company a while ago. I do not really have the
details though.”
Potjaman Na PombejraPotjaman Na Pombejra
Former
Thai first lady
Details: Former wife of Thailand’s ousted Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra. Potjaman and Shinawatra obtained a high-profile divorce at
the Thai consular office in Hong Kong in 2008. Two years later, about $1.4 billion of Shinawatra’s
family assets were seized after he was found guilty by the Supreme Court of
corruption and abuse of power to benefit his family’s telecommunication
company, Shin Corporation, while he was prime minister.
Offshore business: Potjaman Na Pombejra acquired an offshore company
called Premium Select Inc. (2007) in the British Virgin Islands, and soon after
she was listed as the sole beneficial owner. The company was set up through the
service of UBS AG Singapore.
Comment: Potjaman’s
lawyer, Somporn Pongsuwan, did not return several phone calls seeking
information on the offshore entity.
Ukraine
Dmytro FirtashDmytro Firtash
Businessman
Details: Co-owns
RosUkrEnergo, a partnership with Gazprom, the Russian natural gas giant. U.S.
law enforcement officials and diplomats have linked him to arms and drug
trafficking and to reputed Russian mob boss Semion Mogilevich.
Offshore business: Shareholder
and director (since 2007) in Group DF Limited (incorporated in 2006) in the
British Virgin Islands, which became a holding company for Firtash’s interests
in energy, chemicals and real estate.
Comment: Firtash
could not be reached for comment.
United States
Denise RichDenise Rich
Songwriter
Details: Ex-wife
of the United States’ most famous tax fugitive, Marc Rich, who was
controversially pardoned by former President Bill Clinton on Clinton’s last day
in office. She is a Grammy-nominated songwriter, having written chart-topping
songs for the likes of Sister Sledge and Celine Dion. In 2012, Rich resigned
her U.S. citizenship.
Offshore business: Settlor
and beneficiary of The Dry Trust (1992) and director of DTD Limited (2007),
both in the Cook Islands.
Comment: Denise
Rich did not respond to a request for comment.
Venezuela
José
Eliecer Pinto Gutiérrez
Army
General
Details: Top
commander in the Amazonas state, overseeing security in the Venezuela-Colombia
border.
Offshore business:
Shareholder, director and secretary of Romana International Holdings, Ltd.
(2003-2006) in the British Virgin Islands.
Comment: Pinto
Gutiérrez could not be reached for comment. ICIJ verified his connection to the
offshore company through his identity card, a copy of which was included in the
offshore files.
Regards
Winston Wambua
For more information please contact me on
Mobile +971553350517
Email:
winstonk@live.com
Skype: Winston.Wambua
