Argentina is the third country in the world with the highest number of final beneficiaries of offshore companies in Pandora Papers

Argentina is once again the protagonist of a global investigation into the use of tax havens, those opaque jurisdictions chosen to move money in the dark or hide assets behind paper companies. Our country is the third in the world with more compatriots as final beneficiaries of offshore companies in Pandora Papers, the latest project of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) which integrates Infobae with La Nación and elDiarioAR.

Participate in this new ICIJ global research 617 journalists from 117 countries working in 150 medias, among them, some of the most important in the world. The book reveals the trade and financial secrets of more than 30 heads of state, 330 politicians and officials from more than 90 countries, dozens of billionaires who make up Forbes magazine’s ranking of businessmen. Also celebrities, singers and stars of world football.

It is the largest collaborative journalism project in history, based on 12 million documents from 14 service providers off the coast, which make it possible to reconstruct the operations they use to form complex business structures. Since this Sunday, Infobae will publish, over the next two weeks, notes from local and international figures who have operated in tax havens over the past decades in connection with the documents that appear in the leak.

Among the files to which the Argentinian ICIJ team had access are: more than 2,500 Argentinian business owners created in tax havens, with fanciful, mostly Panamanian names and directors who fill the same role for hundreds of companies.

While having a signature off the coast This is not illegal in itself, they are often used to channel money which often comes from different illegal activities. Since the structuring and financing of companies abroad to avoid taxes, up to tax evasion under the concealment of the true owner of a company, property or a bank account abroad. It can also be used to launder money from other more serious crimes, such as collecting bribes or drug trafficking.

Argentinian names

On either side of the rift, Pandora Papers reveals different activities in tax havens linked to local personalities. Among the documents is Jaime Duran Barba, the Ecuadorian guru who directed Mauricio Macri at Casa Rosada, whose income as a presidential adviser has been under scrutiny for a few years and remains one of the best-kept secrets. Also listed in the leak Mariano Macri, the younger brother of the former president, who a few months ago publicized their family disputes in a controversial book, and Gianfranco Macri, with two family businesses that he included in the 2016 tax laundering he received, when Mauricio was president.

On the sidewalk opposite, Daniel Munoz He reappears in this new leak for his illegal activity. The former private secretary of Nestor kirchner began its decline after the ICIJ revealed in Panama Papers an offshore company he had with his wife, Caroline Pochetti, to move black money out and build millionaire wealth out of the eyes of the treasure. Today, Pandora Papers exposes missing pieces of this fabric outside that he regrouped the one designated as “old luggage” of the Kirchners, with the only two companies in which he appears with his name in the British Virgin Islands.

Ernesto Clarens, appointed as the financier of the Kichner, who is one of the repentants in the case of the notebooks and is prosecuted by the Justice for money laundering for various causes, is another of the characters linked to the Kirchnerist corruption who appears in Pandora Papers.

Further back in time Zulemite Menem, the daughter of the former president, was one of the many Argentines who attended the Panamanian study German, Lamb, Galindo & Lee, known as Alcogal. This law firm, which offers all kinds of legal services, was preferred by the vast majority of Argentines who appear in the leak and operate offshore. In general, they do not contact her directly, but through Uruguayan accounting and law firms, which offer themselves as intermediaries with Panama.

Before consulting the ICIJ, the Panamanian law firm, they dissociated themselves from any illegality committed by their clients: “Alcogal adheres to all legal requirements regarding the provision of business services and the creation of companies, in full compliance with all applicable laws in all jurisdictions it operates ”.

The millions of football

The Argentinian roster includes a long chapter related to football, both with personalities who have made careers abroad and with a more local leg like the case of Humberto Grondona, son of the late Julio Grondona, powerful president of the Argentine Football Association for 25 years and whose fortune investigates the justice of United States.

There are also two men who share the Paris Saint-Germain squad with Lionel Messi. Angel Di Maria, key to getting the last Copa América, is one of the main stories of Pandora Papers. Mauricio Pochettino, the PSG coach is another of those mentioned in the leak. Although already retired from the courts, Javier Mascherano, Former captain of the national team, he has also turned to shell companies to make investments abroad.

More than twenty renowned businessmen country are also listed in Pandora Papers, as well as others unknown to the public. In some cases, they had to add bank accounts for $ 150 million. Several of them, contacted by the Argentinian ICIJ team, explained why they had chosen to operate abroad to do their business or keep their assets abroad. They claimed to have declared everything to AFIP, and provided the documents that proved it.

Internationally, Pandora Papers provides names of global significance. From the King of Jordan to former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, including the current and former presidents of Chile, Paraguay and Peru. Also international celebrities like Shakira, the singer Julio Iglesias, and the model Claudia Schiffer, among many world stars.

These names that the Argentinian ICIJ team is putting forward today are just a few of the series that Infobae will publish over the next 15 days in different articles.

Argentina, at the top of the ranking

Unlike what happens when GDP or other socio-economic indicators such as inflation are compared, this time Argentina is not in the worst positions globally. Completely the opposite. With regard to operations through tax havens, the country occupies a prominent place on the world stage.

Argentina is the third country in the world with the highest number of end beneficiaries among all the offshore companies exposed by the Pandora Papers. Only Russia and the United Kingdom, two countries which multiply Argentina in the main economic indicators, exceed our country in the number of business owners created in tax havens.

There are exactly 2,521 Argentines those who appear to be the final beneficiaries of these companies. The majority, 79%, have chosen the British Virgin Islands (BVI), one of the most opaque jurisdictions in the world, as their tax haven. The rest was decided by offshore centers such as Belize and Panama, among others. Beyond the resounding surnames to hold public office or to play for the national team, the vast majority of Argentines who appear in Pandora Papers are people unknown to the public.

What did the Argentines listed on Pandora Papers use them for or continue to use them for? The most common reason is to avoid paying taxes in Argentina, looking for less taxed jurisdictions, or protecting money in banks in New York, for example. Also to acquire or invest real estate abroad without putting their name on the deeds, or to avoid paying inheritance tax in the United States.

Offshore services make it possible to open an account in the name of a company with the power to move funds without having to give too much explanation, to the establishment of sophisticated structures such as trusts with several bank accounts which, in practice, seek to protect and control the wealth millionaire.

Each of the Argentines who appear in the leak is a special case, but It was only on a few occasions that Infobae was able to verify that these companies were duly declared to the Federal Agency for Public Revenue (AFIP).

Our country also incorporates another Top five to Pandora Papers: It is the fifth country in the world with the most offshore companies linked to a single final beneficiary. There have been 1,448 companies started in absolute secrecy by an Argentinian, behind the United Kingdom (3,936), Russia (3,694), Hong Kong (2,104) and China (1,892).

The documents analyzed by the more than 600 journalists who took part in the investigation for almost a year cover a long period which begins in 1970 and extends until 2020. Besides Alcogal, among others, law firms renowned as Trident Trust, from the British Virgin Islands; Asiaciti Trust (Singapore); Alpha Consulting; Management company abroad (OMC); o CIL Trust International Inc (Cititrust).

Among the more than 150 media that participated in the Pandora Papers, in addition to Infobae, the newspaper The nation and the site elDiarioAr for Argentina. At the international level, among others, The Washington Post and Miami Herald (United States), BBC and The Guardian (UK), The world (France), The country and The sixth (Spain); South German newspaper (Germany); The country, Fifth element, To treat and Univision (Mexico), ABC color (Paraguay), Assignment e IDL (Peru), The spectator and Connects (Colombia); ArmandoInfo (Venezuela); Cyprus and LaBot (Chili); and Research (Uruguay).

The Argentinian Pandora Papers team is made up of Mariel Fitz Patrick, Sandra Crucianelli and Iván Ruiz, from Infobae; Hugo Alconada Mon, Maia Jastreblansky and Ricardo Brom, for La Nación; and Emilia Delfino for elDiarioAR.

Infographic: Marcelo Regalado

Interactive visualizations: Daniela Czibener

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