Pandora Papers Legal Engineering | Baker & McKenzie, the powerful American law firm featured in the mega leak

There is a theory of the eternal return in Nietzsche or of circular time in Borges. History always seems to bring us back to the same place. To repeating facts or characters. Christine Lagarde, former Managing Director of the IMF and current President of the European Central Bank (ECB) worked between 1981 and 2005 at Baker & McKenzie, possibly the world’s largest law firm featured in some 7,500 Pandora Papers. Study in 46 countries and 4,700 lawyers helps billionaires and large corporations to avoid or evade taxes with legal and financial engineering tailored to the client. This is due to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which published the latest large-scale document leak.

The woman Mauricio Macri celebrated when he was president, not only advised elusive companies that operated from tax havens when working in the private sphere. She also chaired the executive and strategic committees of Baker & McKenzie and was even a director of its Law in Context subsidiary based in Bermuda, an offshore territory dominated by tax secrecy.

Lagarde was not an occasional executive in the company she commanded from Europe. His CV shows that he was a staff member for almost a quarter of a century and held senior positions. Your business relationship with tax heavens This is obvious that was known in November 2019 as soon as he assumed the role of the ECB. But now it takes more force with the Pandora Papers leak. La bisagra que la banca offshore es Baker & McKenzie whose income broke a record this year. Its own official page says it: it ended on June 30, 2021 with 3.1 billion. “This is the first time that the firm has crossed the $ 3 billion mark. Revenue increased 7.8% year over year, and coupled with carefully managed costs, this resulted in profit growth of 36.7% year over year ”, did he declare.

Pillar of the offshore economy

The International Consortium of Journalists defines the transnational study as “an architect and pillar of the underground economy, often referred to as offshore, which benefits the rich at the expense of countries’ coffers and the pocket of the ordinary citizen.” This firm cares little about the increasingly pronounced asymmetries between rich and poor. Your World President Milton Cheng said at the end of September: “In such a challenging environment, achieving record revenues is a huge vote of confidence from our customers and a testament to the hard work and resilience of our people around the world. “

Established in 1949, the studio opened its first offshore office in Caracas, Venezuela. It was 1955, Perón was overthrown in Argentina and Baker & McKenzie began its phase of international expansion during that decade. The work of the ICIJ recalls that in an article published in the Wisconsin Law Review two years later, Russell Baker – one of the founders of the firm – recommended “the incorporation of companies in Venezuela and in other countries which would allow owners to remain anonymous by using what are known as bearer shares. Bearer shares are share certificates that do not need to be registered in the name of a specific person or company ”. Baker and his partner John McKenzie did so because of the difficulties that existed in the United States to form such companies.

Today, as Pandora Papers feeds the world’s media, the Journalists Consortium denounces on its official website that the law firm and all its delegations “have benefited from the work done for people linked to fraud and corruption “. And he gives some examples: “the company worked for Ukrainian oligarch Igor Koloimosky, which US authorities claim to have laundered $ 5,500 million through a tangle of shell companies, which buy factories and commercial properties throughout the heart of the United States ”.

Baker & McKenzie also advised Jho Low, a fugitive Malaysian financier accused of international fraud. for over $ 4.5 billion, known as 1MDB. The law firm presents itself on its corporate page far removed from this type of advice: “We are citizens of the world and we recognize that the rule of law is an essential basis for economic growth and development. Where the rule of law is strong, business leaders may feel optimistic about investing in the future. ”

The ICIJ couldn’t get a word from Cheng, the powerful company’s Hong Kong president, but in its reports it cited a spokesperson explaining how Baker McKenzie is working to “make sure our customers are comply with both the law and best practices. “The company’s website explains that its policy” is based on principles of integrity, transparency, professionalism and upholding the highest ethical standards. ”

“We are honest and transparent,” says the firm in its code of business conduct. “We do not deal with unsavory characters”, they defend themselves. El Consorcio Internacional de Periodistas no piensa lo mismo: “Cuando los multimillonarios, las multinacionales y las personas conexiones políticas pretenden ocultar su riquera o evadir impuestos, recurren con frecuencia a Baker McKenzie, el gigante con sede en Chicago”, publicaron citando al ICIJ , since The country from Spain to the Public Agency in Brazil.

The Chicago-based firm’s influence is notable on the Pandora Papers. The media around the world have taken it upon themselves to highlight it: “Among the sea of ​​bankers, accountants, lawyers and agents for the creation of instrumental companies, Baker & McKenzie stands out. The ICIJ discovered that it played a role in the affairs of more than 440 companies registered in tax havens ”. It is also not surprising, as the Consortium argues, that “more than 220 Baker & McKenzie employees in 35 countries have held positions in government bodies such as ministries of justice, tax services, the Commission European Union or the offices of heads of state ”.

Instrumental societies

For the ICIJ, the evidence of illegitimate, close to illegal practices in this multinational legal services company is devastating: “Leaked documents reveal that the law firm helped create instrumental partnerships in Cyprus for the giant food and tobacco. RJR Nabisco. For Nike, collaborated in the creation of a Dutch tax shelter. According to US court documents, his lawyers helped Facebook to redirect billions of dollars in profits to Ireland, a low-tax country ”.

Mentioned in more than 7,500 Pandora Papers, more than any competing law firm in the United States, Baker & McKenzie insisted that the companies or individuals who hire him are not deviating from the right ones. practice. But he clarified – according to the ICIJ – that “sometimes, we find that clients subsequently carry out activities that are not in accordance with our initial verification, or that new facts or events cause us to stop representing them. “.

A good listener a few words.