Five key figures implicated in the 'Panama Papers' scandal

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

http://www.latimes.com/world/la-fg-panama-papers-key-figures-20160404-
snap-htmlstory.html

The story starts with a Panama-based law firm, Mossack Fonseca, which sets
up shell companies in offshore tax havens to protect the global elite.

After an anonymous insider leaked a vast trove of the firm’s documents to
a German newspaper more than a year ago, hundreds of journalists from
dozens of news outlets in more than 80 countries teamed up to investigate
how the world’s rich and famous – as well as the infamous – move their
money around and hide their wealth.

The leaked files are called the “Panama Papers.” And the first round of
stories published this weekend has already rattled governments and public
figures around the world, with the news outlets led by the International
Consortium of Investigative Journalists promising more to come.

Here’s a look at some of the most prominent world figures who have been
implicated so far.

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Putin’s name reportedly does not appear in the 2.6 terabytes of data
leaked from Mossack Fonseca, which has branches around the world.

But there’s another name that does: one of Putin’s closest friends, Sergei
Roldugin, a 64-year-old cellist who has somehow amassed $100 million
through three offshore companies that list him as owner.

The leaked files suggest that Roldugin is not keeping this wealth for
himself, but is funneling the money to Putin's inner circle. The Guardian
reports that Putin is at the center of a network of $2 billion in offshore
deals and loans, with Putin’s friends and associates, including Roldugin,
earning “millions from deals that seemingly could not have been secured
without his patronage.”

The transactions, the Guardian reports, “include apparently fake share
deals, with shares ‘traded’ retrospectively; multimillion-dollar charges
for vague ‘consultancy’ services; and repeated payments of large sums in
‘compensation’ for allegedly canceled share deals.”

Roldugin declined to comment about the transactions when approached by an
investigative journalist after a concert in Moscow in March, saying he was
“afraid to be interviewed,” and adding: “Where's the money from? Whose
[money is it]? I know all that. These are delicate matters.”

Russian government officials criticized the Panama Papers reports as being
part of an anti-Russia conspiracy. Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said
the reports “lack details” and are “based on arguments and speculations.”

Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson

Revelations from the Panama Papers brought out thousands of protesters
Monday in Iceland, where the future of the current government is now in
doubt. Gunnlaugsson has a financial stake in the country’s collapsed banks
through an offshore company set up by Mossack Fonseca, according to the
German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, the news outlet that originally
obtained the leaked documents.

In Iceland, those bank connections are a problem for Gunnlaugsson. Iceland
was devastated by the 2008 global financial crisis, which saw Iceland’s
three biggest banks close in three days and the stock market drop 90%.
More than two dozen executives were convicted in connection with financial
schemes that helped wreck the nation’s economy. Icelanders are still
seething.

Documents showed that Gunnlaugsson and his wife were actually creditors of
the three failed banks – through their offshore shell company that held
millions of euros' worth of bonds. For Gunnlaugsson, that presents a
potential conflict of interest, since he has been involved with policy
decisions that have affected whether and how the banks’ creditors are
repaid, Süddeutsche Zeitung reported.

In March, Gunnlaugsson walked out of a TV interview when confronted about
the company’s ownership. “You’re asking me nonsense,” Gunnlaugsson said.
“Something is being made suspicious that isn’t suspicious. … This is
totally inappropriate.” His wife later posted a statement on Facebook
saying that she was the sole owner of the company and that her husband was
accidentally named a shareholder.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko

Poroshenko, a candy magnate known as the “Chocolate King,” rose to office
in 2014 on the promise that he would root out corruption, at a time when
the country was also battling pro-Russia fighters who had claimed large
portions of Ukrainian territory.

Now, Poroshenko is facing threats of impeachment after the Panama Papers
revealed Poroshenko moved assets to offshore holding companies in the
British Virgin Islands -- “going so far as to arguably violate the law
twice, misrepresent information and deprive his country of badly needed
tax dollars during a time of war,” according to an investigation by the
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.

Before his election, Poroshenko promised to sell his candy business,
Roshen. But after reportedly setting up holding companies for Roshen in
the Virgin Islands during some of the fiercest fighting in Ukraine, the
company still hasn’t been sold, and nor had it been put in a blind trust
as Poroshenko claimed, the journalists’ consortium reported.

The moves potentially violated laws that require financial disclosure and
forbid starting new companies while serving as president. The news also
comes as Ukraine’s government is trying to crack down on the use of
offshore tax havens. Now, opposition lawmakers are calling for an
investigation, according to the magazine Foreign Policy.

Poroshenko has denied breaking the law. “I believe I might be the first
top office official in Ukraine who treats declaring of assets, paying
taxes and conflict of interest issues profoundly and seriously, in full
compliance with the Ukrainian and international private law,” Poroshenko
said in a statement on Facebook. “Having become a president, I am not
participating in management of my assets, having delegated this
responsibility to the respective consulting and law firms. I expect that
they will provide all necessary details to the Ukrainian and international
media.”

FIFA and Lionel Messi

The Panama Papers may go down as one of those classic scandals that have a
little something for every reader – including fùtbol fans.

One of FIFA’s ethics committee members, the Uruguayan attorney Pedro
Damiani, is facing an internal investigation by the world soccer
association after revelations from the Panama Papers. Damiani's law firm
manages offshore companies, including several that may have been used to
pay bribes in the corruption scandal that has led to the arrests of top
FIFA officials, Süddeutsche Zeitung reported. A spokesman for Damiani told
the newspaper he could not respond in detail due to the ongoing
investigation.

Scandal has also touched Lionel Messi, perhaps the world’s greatest soccer
player. Messi is already facing allegations of using offshore companies to
illegally avoid taxation in Spain, and the Panama Papers revealed that
Messi and his father shared ownership in yet another shell company
temporarily managed by Mossack Fonseca, according to the Süddeutsche
Zeitung. Messi and his father reportedly declined to comment, but Messi
has previously said that he signs whatever documents his father presents
to him.

Ian Cameron, father of British Prime Minister David Cameron

During a parliamentary fight over corporate taxation in January, the prime
minister claimed that “no government has done more than this one to crack
down on tax evasion and aggressive tax avoidance.”

It turns out the issue is close to home for Cameron. For at least three
decades, Cameron’s late father, Ian Cameron, ran an offshore investment
fund to help wealthy British clients avoid paying taxes in Britain, the
Guardian reported, citing documents among the Panama Papers.

Ian Cameron’s company, Blairmore Holdings, Inc. -- named after the Cameron
family’s ancestral home in Aberdeenshire -- used a “small army of Bahamas
residents,” including a part-time bishop, to sign paperwork and serve
roles including treasurer and secretary in order to avoid British
taxation, the Guardian reported. Although the Panama Papers reveal the
elaborate contortions the company had to make in order to avoid taxation,
there is no suggestion Ian Cameron broke the law, the newspaper reported.

A spokeswoman for David Cameron told the Guardian it was “a private
matter” when asked if the family still had money invested in the fund. She
added that Cameron had “taken a range of action to tackle evasion and
aggressive tax avoidance.”


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