Africa-Press – Mozambique. A huge investigation by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has disclosed the names of more than 330 public figures who allegedly used tax havens around the world to hide financial assets.
According to a report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released this Sunday (03-10), documents prove that, less than a month before he was removed from his duties as prime minister of Mozambique in 2012, Aires Ali used a Swiss-based tax consultancy to start a shell company called Stonelake Enterprises Ltd in the Seychelles.
A Panama-based law firm, Alcogal provided a shareholder and directors, thus obscuring Ali’s identity as the shell company’s owner. In 2013, Ali and his daughter, Judite Tânia Baptista Ali, authorized the company to open a bank account with a Lisbon-based wealth management firm.
The leaked records in the Pandora Papers do not state the company’s purpose, and the Mozambican politician has yet to comment on the investigation.
Millions of documents leaked by the ICIJ reveal the financial secrets of 35 past and current world leaders and more than 330 politicians and authorities from 91 countries. Among the figures named in the Pandora Papers are the President of Kenya, Uhuru Kenyatta, the former President of the Republic of Congo, Denis Sassou Nguesso, and Uganda’s Minister of Security, Jim Muhwezi.
Pandora Papers
The media consortium’s investigation leaked 11 million documents from 14 financial services companies worldwide, showing that public figures used offshore tax havens to hide assets worth hundreds of millions of Euros.
For Gerard Ryle, director of the Media Consortium, the importance of disclosing these documents is to demonstrate “that people who can break offshore secrecy can expose who is benefiting from it”. So far, nine countries have announced investigations into the activities and financial statements of the citizens denounced.
The ICIJ was also responsible for leaking documents in the so-called Luanda Leaks scandal, which involved, among others, Angolan businesswoman Isabel dos Santos.
