There is at least one connection to Guyana in the leaked ‘Panama Papers’ which details the offshore holdings of world political leaders and elite businessmen and celebrities, among others.
The Panama Papers is an unprecedented investigation that reveals the offshore links of some of the globe’s most prominent figures, according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)
The ICIJ together with the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and more than 100 other media partners, spent a year sifting through 11.5 million leaked files to expose the offshore holdings of world political leaders, links to global scandals, and details of the hidden financial dealings of fraudsters, drug traffickers, billionaires, celebrities, sports stars and more.
According to ICIJ’s website, the trove of documents is likely the biggest leak of inside information in history. It includes nearly 40 years of data from a little-known but powerful law firm based in Panama. That firm, Mossack Fonseca, has offices in more than 35 locations around the globe, and is one of the world’s top creators of shell companies, corporate structures that can be used to hide ownership of assets.
ICIJ’s analysis of the leaked records revealed information on more than 214,000 offshore companies connected to people in more than 200 countries and territories. The data includes emails, financial spreadsheets, passports and corporate records revealing the secret owners of bank accounts and companies in 21 offshore jurisdictions, including Nevada, Hong Kong and the British Virgin Islands, the ICIJ says.
Not all the data has been released but from what has been revealed so far, there is a mention of Guyana with one beneficiary and one shareholder connected to Guyana by address. The details of this person have not been published.
Other Caribbean countries are also mentioned such as Suriname, for which six shareholders are “connected” to that country. For Trinidad, there is mention of six companies, three clients, one beneficiary and 15 shareholders “connected” to that country and for Barbados, 34 companies, 12 clients, five beneficiaries, and 34 shareholders are “connected” to that country.
It has been noted that while there are legitimate reasons to use an offshore structure, these same structures also afford corrupt figures the means to cheat the system: evading taxes, laundering drug-cartel money and concealing bribes, among other illegal acts.
