Panama Papers: US $ 1.2 billion already recovered worldwide

The Panama Papers allowed to collect 1.2 billion US dollars worldwide. Three years after the leak, which revealed how rich and powerful hid their wealth in tax havens with the help of the Panamanian study Mossack Fonseca, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) , revealed that the profits of the states from the revelations exceeded this figure, according to the overall count of fines and tax arrears resulting from exposure to the investigation.

Avoiding taxes, hiding badets, laundering money of illicit origin are just some of the goals that the tax haven system allows.as revealed by research conducted by ICIJ with the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and who saw the light on April 3, 2016 and had a second chapter in June 2018, in which he participated PROFILE. The revelations of the last three years have allowed governments in many countries to recover some of the money escaped from offshore companies and accounts.

ICIJ informed that The United Kingdom, for example, has recovered more than 252 million euros; Australia raised an additional $ 92 million; and Belgium has added $ 18 million to its public coffers. In France, tax authorities have confirmed the recovery of nearly $ 136 million and more than 500 inspections. The Canada Revenue Agency, which also raided two properties last week, revealed that it was seeking to recover more than $ 11 million in federal taxes and fines, based on 116 audits.

In Iceland, the Tax Investigations Branch has completed 24 investigations related to the Panama Papers and estimates that it has recovered 25.5 million US dollars. Icelanders took to the streets after the publication of the investigation and Prime Minister of the time, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, resigned a few days after the publication of the first articles. In Panama, the earthquake was also felt. Its legislation has been changed and the authorities have recovered more than 14 million US dollars in the last three years.

Investigations are continuing in many countries, including Austria (where regulators are investigating whether two large banks have followed the procedures to prevent money laundering), Germany, France and Norway. ICIJ, in collaboration with the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and more than 100 other media partners, spent more than a year reviewing 11.5 million filtered files expose the badets abroad.

The files, which have been filtered for Süddeutsche Zeitung, came from a small but powerful law firm based in Panama, Mossack Fonseca, which had branches in Hong Kong, Miami, Zurich and more than 35 locations around the world. In Ecuador, there are also at least seven people imprisoned, a minister, three directors and some subcontractors, in connection with the Petroecuador corruption project, informed by L & # 39; universe.

In South Korea, former army general and former leader of a major manufacturer of defense equipment They have been charged with bribery for a multi-million dollar case based on reports from ICIJ's local partner, Newstapa. In Pakistan, the former prime minister was convicted.

In Argentina

In 2016, the main revelation in Argentina concerned the President Mauricio Macri, his father Franco and his brother Mariano: they appeared as directors of the offshore company Fleg Trading Ltd., incorporated in the Bahamas in 1998 and dissolved in January 2009. The role of Macri in this company had never been revealed. His affidavits at the head of the government of the city of Buenos Aires in 2007 and 2008 had never been declared.

The illegal trade was used by Socma holding company (Sociedades Macri) to transfer $ 9.3 million and to invest in the easy payment business in Brazil, as his late father later said. The revelations resulted in a criminal investigation against Macri for money laundering and malicious omission alleged in his affidavits. After a long family dispute in a civil court, Franco Macri took charge of the offshore moves and the judge of the case, Sebastián Casanello, declared incompetent.

In the same file had been added another piece of evidence sent by the prosecutor's office of Frankfurt, Germany, on the links of the brothers of the Argentine president with another offshore secret society. The entrepreneurs Gianfranco and Mariano Macri were true beneficiaries of BF Corporation SA, according to the complaint filed in the Argentine courts by the Office of Economic Crime and Money Laundering (Procelac).

The magistrate referred the case to the criminal economic court so that she investigated an alleged evasion maneuver, where the investigation continues without news.

The second chapter of the leak, in mid-2018, revealed that after the Panama Papers, Gianfranco had confessed to the Federal Revenue Administration (AFIP) that he was the true owner of the company offshore BF Corporation SA, holder of a secret account. in Swiss. It is through this company that the contractor outsourced more than US $ 4 million of money laundering, which allowed the Macri government itself and following the Panama Papers and allegation of money laundering alleged.

In 2018, this second filtering of Mossack Fonseca documents also showed that the 2016 leak had forced some 125 Argentinian clients of the Panamanian study to sincere offshore holdings for about $ 104 million, according to the investigation of the Argentine team. However, AFIP has not provided an official figure on the monetary product of Panama Papers relating to the recovery of the currency.

In 2016, the entrepreneur Federico de Achával was another target of the revelations. Mossack Fonseca's documents baderted that Val de Loire, the enigmatic offshore company that controlled for years a slice of Palermo's racetrack (Hapsa) without knowing who its true owner was, had Achával as its final beneficiary.

The majority partner of Hapsa, Federico de Achával, denies being the controller in the shadow of the Loire Valley. However, the judge still investigates the businessman, as Uruguayan intermediaries, the Damiani studio, have identified De Achával as the true owner of the company in a document that they handed over to Panama in August 2014.

The judge Sebastián Casanello ordered a new testimony in the case. The magistrate seeks to interrogate by videoconference the director of the Damiani studio, Sandra Morales. The executive is the one who signed the document in which the Argentine businessman is designated as the final beneficiary of the Loire Valley. The Uruguayan authorities have not yet authorized the measure.

(*) Contributors to this story: Douglas Dalby, Amy Wilson-Chapman, Emilia Diaz Struck, Nina Selbo Torset, John Hansen, Minna Knus-Galán, Scilla Alecci, Johannes Kristjansson, Leo Sisti, Rita Vásquez, Mónica Almeida, Jan Strozyk, Ulla Kramar-Schmid, Martijn Roessingh, Kristof Clerix, Marco Oved, Jacob Borg, Juliette Garside, Anne Michel, Will Fitzgibbon, Vadim Makarenko, Alexenia Dimitrova, Emiliana Garcia, Andras Petho, Yongjin Kim, Frédéric Zalac, Marcos Garcia Rey, Marc Tourliere , Yasuomi Sawa, Colm Keena, Ritu Sarin and the Argentine team formed of La Nación, Infobae and Perfil.

ED DSD