THE IRISH TIMES 4 Business News Friday,April5,2013 Offshoretaxhavens Leading Secrets of the rich who hide cash offshore figures across the Millions of records globe reveal thousands of anonymous account MONGOLIA Name: Bayartsogt Sangajav holders Offshore company: Legend Plus Capital Limited Estimates suggest One of Mongolia’s most sen- ior politicianssays he is con- up to $32tn may be sidering resigning from of- stashed in overseas ficeafter being confronted with evidence of his offshore tax havens entity and secret Swiss bank account. “I shouldn’t have opened thataccount.Ishouldhave in- cluded the company in my Millions of internal records declarations,” Bayartsogt have leaked from Britain’s off- Sangajav told the Interna- shore financial industry, expos- tional Consortium of Investi- ing for the first time the identi- gative Journalists(ICIJ). ties of thousands of holders of “I don’t worry about my anonymous wealth from reputation. Iworry about my around the world, from presi- family.Iprobablyshouldcon- dents to plutocrats, the daugh- sider resigning from my posi- ter of anotorious dictator and a tion.” British millionaire accused of Bayartsogt, who says his concealing assets from his account at one point con- ex-wife. tained more than $1 million, The leak of 2million emails became his country’s finance and other documents, mainly minister in September 2008, from the offshore haven of the aposition hehelduntilacabi- British Virgin Islands(BVI), has net reshuffle in August 2012. the potential to cause aseismic He is now the deputy speaker shock worldwide to the boom- of parliament. ing offshore trade, with afor- During those years he at- mer chief economist at McKin- tended international meet- seyestimatingthatwealthyindi- ings and served as governor viduals may have as much as of the Asian Development $32 trillion stashed overseas. Bank and theEuropean Bank In France, Jean-Jacques Au- of Reconstruction. gier, president Francois Hol- lande’s campaign co-treasurer CANADA and close friend, has been Name:Tony Merchant forced to publicly identify his ■ The British Virgin Islands in extremely damaging for confi- nary array of government offi- va’s husband, businessman and amongthemushrooming secre- from alucrative trade as inter- Offshore Company: Mer- Chinese business partner. It the Caribbean, an offshore tax dence among the world’s cials and rich families across politicianIgorShuvalov,hasde- cy havens that cater for them. mediaries. They claim the chant (2000) US Inc Trust emerges as Hollande is mired haven. PHOTOGRAPH: PAUL wealthiest people, no longer the world are identified, from nied allegations of wrongdoing The Caribbean micro-state tax-free offshore companies Acolourful lawyer and for- in financial scandal because his THOMPSON/GETTY IMAGES certain that the size of their for- Canada, the US, India, Paki- about her offshore interests. has incorporated more than a provide legitimate privacy. mer politician, married to former budget minister con- tunes remains hidden. stan, Indonesia, Iran, China, ■ Adictator’s child in the Phil- million such offshore entities The Guardian and ICIJ’s Liberal party senator Pana cealed aSwiss bank account for BVI’s clients include Scot Thailand and former commu- ippines. Maria Imelda Marcos since it began marketing itself “Offshore Secrets” series last Merchant. Known for 20 years and repeatedly lied in the British Virgin Islands, Young, amillionaire associate nist states. The data shows that Manotoc, aprovincial gover- worldwide in the 1980s. Own- year exposed how UK property challenges to the Canadian about it. where owners’ identities nor- ofdeceasedoligarch BorisBere- their secret companies are nor, is theeldest daughter of ers’ true identities are never re- empires have been built up by revenue agency over his tax mally remain secret. zovsky. Dundee-born Young is based mainly in the British Vir- former president Ferdinand vealed. Even the island’s offi- Russian oligarchs, fraudsters payments .Hehas also been Politicalresignation The names have been un- in jail for contempt of court for gin Islands. Marcos, notorious for corrup- cialfinancial regulatorsnormal- and tax avoiders, using BVI disciplined by the Law Socie- In Mongolia, the country’s for- earthed in anovel project by concealing assets from his Sample offshore owners tion. ly have no idea who is behind companies behind ascreen of ty for “conduct unbecom- mer finance minister and depu- the Washington-based Interna- ex-wife. named in the files include: ■ Spain’s wealthiest art collec- them. sham directors. ing”. tyspeakerof itsparliament says tional Consortium of Investiga- Another is jailed fraudster ■ The president of Azerbaijan tor, Baroness Carmen Thys- Such so-called “nominees”, In 1998,launched Cook Is- hemayhavetoresignfrom poli- tive Journalists [ICIJ], in collab- AchilleasKallakis.Heusedfake and hisfamily. Alocal construc- sen-Bornemisza,aformer beau- Licensingrevenue Britons giving far-flung ad- lands trust with deposit of tics as aresult of this investiga- oration with the London-based BVI companies to obtain are- tion magnate, Hassan Gozal, ty queen and widow of aThys- The British foreign office de- dresseson Nevisin theCaribbe- more than $800,000 as sett- tion. Guardian and other interna- cord-breaking £750 million in controls entities setupinthe sen steel billionaire, who uses pends on the BVI’s company li- an, Dubai or the Seychelles, are lor and initially as benefi- But the two can now be tional media, who are jointly property loans from reckless names of President Ilham Ali- offshore entities to buy pic- censing revenue to subsidise simply renting out their names ciary. Sent fee payments in named for the first time be- publishing their research re- British and Irish banks. yev’s two daughters. tures. this residual outpost of empire, for the real owners to hide be- cash envelopes: the agents cause of their use of companies sults this week. As well as Britons hiding ■ The wife of Russia’s deputy The UK-controlled BVI has while lawyers and accountants hind. noted “All communications in offshore havens, particularly The naming project may be wealth offshore, an extraordi- prime minister. OlgaShuvalo- been the most successful in the City of London benefit – Guardian service regarding this trust is to be kept to aminimum –Donot ever send faxes cos he will have astroke about it.” FRANCE Records represent treasure trove of inside information Name:Jean-Jacques Augier Offshore company: Interna- tional Bookstores Ltd [IBL] GERARDRYLE The leaks illustrate how off- deutscher Rundfunk in Germa- Eighty-six journalists from Offshore centres, they say, al- Thevast tideofoffshore mon- ers argue that offshore secrecy Publisher and Sinologist. shore financialsecrecy has ag- ny,theWashingtonPost,theCa- 46 countries used both hi-tech low peopletodiversify invest- ey can disrupt economies. forcescitizenstopay highertax- Campaign treasurer of Fran- The secret records obtained by gressively spread around the data crunching and traditional ments,createinternationalven- Greece's fiscal disaster was ex- es to make up for vanishing rev- çois Hollande for the 2012 ICIJ lay bare an extraordinary globe. The records detail off- reporting to sift through emails tures and do business in entre- acerbatedby offshoretaxcheat- enues, while anonymity makes presidential elections. They range of people using offshore shore holdings in more than ■ Gerard Ryle: and account ledgers covering preneur-friendly zones without ing and in the Cyprus crisis, lo- it difficult to track the money. studied together at the pres- hideaways. 170 territories; this represents director of the nearly 30 years. red tape. cal banks’ assets were inflated Astudy by James SHenry, tigious National School of They include US dentists and thebiggest stockpileof insidein- ICIJ, an “I've never seen anything “Everything is much more by waves of cash from Russia. formerchiefeconomistat McK- Management (ENA). middle-class Greek villagers as formation about the offshore independent likethis. Thissecret worldhas fi- geared toward business,” Da- ICIJ’s 15-month investiga- insey &Company, estimates Chief executive of Eurane well as families of despots, Wall system ever obtained by ame- network of nally been revealed,” said vid Marchant, publisher of Off- tion found that, alongside per- that wealthy individuals have SA.Madelarge publishing in- Street swindlers, easternEuro- dia organisation. reporters Arthur Cockfield, alaw profes- shoreAlert, an online journal, fectly legal transactions, the se- $21-$32 trillion tucked away in vestmentinChina2005.Cay- pean and Indonesian billion- Toanalyseit,ICIJcollaborat- sor at Queen’s University in said.“If you’re dishonest, you crecy and lax oversight offered offshorehavens–roughlyequiv- mans-registered entity IBL, aires, Russian executives, arms ed with reporters from the Canada, during aCBC inter- can take advantage of that in a by the offshore world appears alent to the size of the US and set up with 25 per cent share- dealers and acompany alleged Guardian and the BBC in the nadian Broadcasting Corpora- view. bad way. But if you’re honest to allow fraud, tax-dodging and Japanese economies com- holding granted to BVI com- to be afront for Iran’s nucle- UK, Le Monde in France, Süd- tion(CBC) and31otherinterna- Offshore’s defenders say you can take advantage of that politicalcorruption to thrive. bined. pany Sinolinks Transworld ar-development programme. deutsche Zeitung and Nord- tional media partners. that most users are legitimate. in agood way.”