Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Paradise Papers exposes powerful African politicians

In SOUTH AFRICA, an Isle of Man trust linked to former president Nelson Mandela has emerged following a legal battled waged over the trust's million dollar bank accounts after Mandela's death.

Separately, major retail, medical and mining companies, including some with ties to South Africa's Vice President Cyril Ramaphosa, came under scrutiny for using offshore structures.

In NIGERIA, a civil society organization urged the country's Code of Conduct Bureau to investigate Senate President, Bukola Saraki, for false declaration of assets.  He is accused of not disclosing his interests in a Cayman Island during his political career.

In NAMIBIA,  the "Namibian" newspaper reported that the country's finance ministry was already investigating tax evasion in the fishing industry following reports about a mackerel company Pacific Andes.

In UGANDA, the powerful foreign minister and brother-in-law of President Museveni, Sam Kutesa, responded to revelations that he set up a trust in the Seychelles.  "I thought you could avoid, not evade, taxes but I found it was not practical." He said he did nothing with the company.  This is the same guy implicated in the Cheikh Tidiane Gadio's bribery and money laundering case in New York.

In ANGOLA, the opposition called for a parliamentary probe into the country's sovereign wealth fund after revelations from the Paradise Papers that the fund's investment manager moved millions of dollars offshore.

We have added the Paradise Papers to our continued investigations and campaign to trace the source and the finance destination of the $900,000,000 against an account of a company registered in The Gambia and China under Amadou Samba's name. 

We have so far found no Gambian or Gambian-registered companies in the Paradise Paper.  What is shown in the Panama Papers is the cross-referencing of the AMASA Company owned by Amadou Samba.
---------------------------------------

* This blog post is based entirely on the product of the ICIJ or the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists headquartered in Washington D.C.