Pandora Papers: three Latin American presidents operated in tax havens | The revelations of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in the region

The most unequal region on the planet is, for its part, the one with the most leaders and former leaders enamelled by the explosive investigation into tax havens led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Three active presidents, 11 former presidents, ministers and senior officials from Latin America used, according to the detailed report, a network of offshore companies in tax havens to hide their wealth and evade taxes.

In the case of Sebastian Pinera, the baptized Pandora Papers underline the purchase and sale of Minera Dominga via an offshore account in the British Virgin Islands. As for his pair Guillermo Lasso, the leaked documents point out that happened to have 14 offshore companies mainly in Panama, while the Dominican Luis Abinader has links and is registered as beneficiary of two companies in Panama: Littlecot Inc. and Padreso SA. The three leaders are united by a common thread: they were, each in their own way, successful entrepreneurs who amassed family fortunes. The investigation that continues to the Panama Papers also includes officials such as Brazil’s influential Minister of the Economy, Paulo Guedès, and former presidents like Peruvian Pedro Pablo Kuczynski and Paraguayan Horacio Cards.

Chile: Piñera and a controversial project

The Pandora Papers revealed this Sunday that the President of Chile, Sebastien Piñera, negotiated in the British Virgin Islands tax haven for the sale and purchase of the controversial Dominga mining megaproject. The ICIJ investigation indicates that the Piñera Morel family was the main shareholder in this business plan, which they sold to businessman Carlos Alberto Délano, one of the president’s best friends.

In 2010 and while Piñera was nine months away from his first term (2010-2014), Délano bought the percentage of all partners for $ 152 million. Part of the deal was sealed with a document signed in Chile for $ 14 million and another in the British Virgin Islands for $ 138 million, according to the ICIJ. In the tax haven, a contract was signed that established a payment in three installments. For the latter to be met, there had to be no regulatory change that would hinder the installation of the mine and its port, according to Ciper, the Chilean media which collaborated in the investigation.

The mining megaproject was approved in August this year by an environmental commission and the support of ten regional ministerial secretaries, after being rejected in 2017 by Michelle Bachelet’s government and an environmental tribunal.. After a complaint filed by the company responsible for the project, Andes Iron, against the Environmental Assessment Service (SEA), the initiative to produce more than 150,000 tonnes of minerals has been given the green light.

President of Chile, who has one of the largest fortunes in the country and will step down from power in March 2022, this Sunday denied having “participated or had information concerning the sales process” of the megaproject Dominga. A statement by his government stressed that the above events “have already been investigated” and added that “The prosecution recommended closing the case because of the absence of a crime”.

Piñera started his credit card business in the 1970s and served as a senator for much of the 1990s, before running for president twice. His fortune is estimated at $ 2.8 billion. As a candidate in 2018, Piñera promised that he and his family would put all of their businesses in blind trusts., but these trusts were only set up for his family’s businesses in Chile, not for his children’s investments abroad.

Ecuador: former banker Guillermo Lasso

The political aspirations of the former director of Banco Guayaquil, Guillermo Lasso, led him to change the structure of the companies he owned abroad. The Pandora Papers have stated that the current President of Ecuador It was linked to 14 offshore companies created in Panama, the United States and Canada, 10 of which are already inactive. closed them after Correísmo approved a law prohibiting presidential candidates from having businesses in tax havens.

The Bretten Trust and Liberty US Trust were established in 2017 in South Dakota. Lasso told the ICIJ that he had “no relationship regarding ownership, control, profits or interests of any kind” with these company trusts. “I have always respected Ecuadorian law which prohibits applicants and officials from owning offshore companies, exactly as I indicated in my statements ”, assured the president in a letter addressed to the ICIJ and the newspaper Universal September 27, in which he emphasized that his income came from Banco Guayaquil.

During the first presidential round of 2017, Ecuadorians approved a popular consultation to prohibit any candidate from being a beneficiary of any entity in tax havens. This consultation became law under the government of Rafael Correa. This diary told months ago how, Thanks to mechanisms such as front companies or front men, Lasso managed to overcome obstacles to become a presidential candidate..

Dominican Republic: Luis Abinader

The President of the Dominican Republic, Luis Abinader, is another of the active world leaders who, according to an ICIJ investigation, hid billions of dollars to evade taxes. Documents disclosed and analyzed by 600 journalists from 150 media outlets, including the Dominican News SIN, show that Abinader is linked to two offshore companies in Panama: Littlecot Inc., which he owns with his sister and brother, and Padreso SA, of which the three brothers are shareholders..

In this case, the Pandora Papers reveal that both companies were formed before Abinader became president. Abinader is the richest public servant in the Dominican Republic. His fortune reaches around $ 70 million, according to the declaration of assets that he submitted a month before being elected president in 2020.

Brazil: Paul Guedes and Roberto Campos

The two most powerful men in the Brazilian business world, Paulo Guedes and Roberto Campos Neto, respectively Minister of the Economy and President of the Central Bank, also appear in the Pandora Papers. Guedes was a shareholder and director of Dreadnoughts International Group, a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands in 2014.

Documents released on Sunday show that Guedes, economic guru of President Jair Bolsonaro and closely linked to the local financial elite, had at least $ 8 million invested in the business in 2014 registered in his name, that of his wife, María Cristina Bolívar Drumond Guedes, and that of his daughter, Paula Drumond Guedes. The following year, that number had risen to 9.5 million., according to documents obtained by the investigation, conducted in Brazil by the magazine Piauí.

Campos, for its part, owns four companies. Two of them, Cor Assets and ROCN Limited, are registered in Panama in partnership with his wife, lawyer Adriana Buccolo de Oliveira Campos. The stated aim of the companies is to invest in the financial assets of Santander Private Bank, of which the current president of the Central Bank was a member of the executive board.

Guedes, co-founder of investment bank BTG Pactual, was a key campaign advisor to President Jair Bolsonaro. The Economy Minister, who claims to have declared his companies offshore, was responsible for sending Congress the tax reform bill that benefits those with money in tax havens. Campos, for his part, signed a resolution that exempts people with assets of less than a million dollars abroad from having to submit accounts to the central bank.

Paraguay: Horacio Maps

While Horacio Cartes held the presidency of Paraguay, he and his family owned offshore companies with properties worth over $ 1 million.. According to the Pandora Papers, Cartes and his three sons owned an offshore company in Panama called Dominicana Acquisition SA, which was joined by two others in 2011, Manantial Azul Development Corp. and Florale Business Corp.

According to the survey, the three family companies were created to invest in real estate and to hold accounts with Banco BASA, owned by Grupo Cartes in Paraguay. Cartes’ legal adviser responded to the ICIJ that the Dominican company had been used as a legal vehicle for the purchase of an apartment in Miami and that the company had never had bank accounts.

Cartes is one of the most influential politicians and one of the richest businessmen in Paraguay. In November 2019, a Brazilian judge issued an arrest warrant against the businessman in connection with Operation Lava Jato. The prosecutor’s office alleged that Cartes had paid $ 500,000 to a criminal organization to help hide from the authorities his “soul mate” Darío Messer, a currency trader who had run away. Former Paraguayan President denied the allegations, and the arrest warrant was revoked shortly after it was issued.

Peru: Pedro Pablo Kuczynski

A contract revealed by the Pandora Papers project showed that the former president of Peru, Pedro Pablo Kuczynski, established the offshore company Dorado Asset Management Ltd in the British Virgin Islands when he was Minister of Economy and Finance (2004-2005) under the administration of Alejandro Toledo. Dorado Asset is listed as the owner of the two houses that Kuczynski owns in Peru.

The offshore was created for the possession of real estate. However, the Convoca portal, which accessed the documents, revealed that the company also aims to offer financial advisory services. The Peruvian prosecution maintains that the Dorado offshore asset is “key”, given that alleged illicit profits from Kuczynski’s dealings with Odebrecht are said to have come from this fund management company.. This suspicion is now part of the investigation by Lava Jato’s special team.