Panama Papers expose Latin America's networks of financial secrecy.
| Autor | Marris, Johanna |
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) will release on May 9 a full, interactive database consisting of 11.5 million documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The clients named in the database, who were exposed by media outlets across the world on April 3 (SourceMex, Apr. 13, 2016), have been the subject of a scandal that has revealed the extent of politicians' involvement in the offshore financial industry.
The anonymous leak to the ICIJ contains evidence of more than 214,000 offshore companies created by Mossack Fonseca for its clients since the firm was founded in Panama City in 1977. In the documents, 140 politicians from more than 50 countries are connected with offshore companies. The scandal has led to resignations of top ministers and the launch of investigations into many other public figures.
As many have jumped to point out, not least Mossack Fonseca itself, the creation of offshore companies is a legal practice. In a statement issued in response to the leaks, Mossack Fonseca strove to differentiate between the legal--though morally questionable--practice of tax avoidance, and tax evasion, which is a criminal offense. The firm claims the former is a normal practice for "tax optimization." However, the implications of politicians' involvement in offshore companies, which are notoriously a vehicle for illicit activities, have been highly damaging.
Public officials under scrutiny
In Latin America, the scandal has centered on the list of high-profile public figures named in the documents and the global spotlight on Panama as a tax haven.
The highest ranking Latin American official named in the documents is Argentine President Mauricio Macri. He was listed as a director and vice-president of a firm owned by his father, Franco Macri, called Fleg Trading Ltd., which was registered in the Bahamas between 1998 and 2009. However, Mauricio Macri did not include his involvement with this company in his sworn declaration when taking office as mayor of Buenos Aires in 2007 or as president in 2015. While he claims he was never a shareholder and received no income from the firm, investigations are underway by the public prosecutor's office and the anti-corruption office into whether his failure to declare it was "wrongful" and whether the company conducted any improper activities. The Buenos Aires daily La Nacion later reported that Macri also formed part of another offshore company, Kagemusha S.A., which...
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