President Mauricio Macri has come under fire after his name appeared in the massive “Panama Papers” data leak exposing the offshore tax affairs of powerful people across the world.
According to leaked files, which came to light on Sunday, President Macri, his father Franco and his brother Mariano were all listed as directors of an offshore trading company called Fleg Trading Ltd. based in the Bahamas.
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The company was set up in 1998 and subsequently dissolved in January 2009, over a year after Macri was elected mayor of Buenos Aires. Macri did not declare the company in his sworn declaration of wealth.
The revelation prompted widespread calls for the president to provide an explain his connection to the company.
On Monday, Macri denied any wrongdoing, saying Fleg Trading Ltd had been established by his father “in a legal operation” and that he was a “circumstantial director”.
“It was an offshore company to invest in Brazil, an investment that ultimately wasn’t completed,” Macri said. “There is nothing strange about this.”
Macri’s father, Franco, also stated that his son received “no sums of money” for occupying such a position.
As criticism continued Cabinet Chief Marcos Peña called a press conference this morning. He stated that Macri has “no accounts or undeclared assets” and described his actions as “absolutely transparent”.
However, the president faced more questions after it was revealed that he was a director of another offshore company Kagemusha SA, also set up by Franco Macri, this time based in Panama itself.
The revelations came as the government was defending itself from criticism over sharp hikes in utility tariffs and public transport last week.
Members of the opposition were quick to denounce the president over the leaks. Felipe Solá, legislator for the Frente Renovador (FR), said that Macri “might escape legal problems, but he can’t escape ethical ones”.
Ex-presidential candidate and opposition leader Daniel Scioli was more conciliatory, saying: “I believe the president’s explanations. He has clarified and explained issues over his involvement.”
Other Argentines Affected
According to BBC Mundo there are 570 Argentines listed in the Panama Papers, among them Lionel Messi. Records reveal the football star and his father were owners of a Panama company known as Mega Star Enterprises Inc.
Other Argentine politicians were also caught up in the scandal. Néstor Grindetti, mayor of Lanús for PRO and ex-finance minister of Buenos Aires under Macri, was found to have control over an offshore company in Panama and access to a Swiss bank account while in office. Grindetti deinied knowledge of the Swiss account in his name, while stated that offshore company Mercier International “never registered financial movements”.
The president’s cousin Jorge Macri, National Human Rights Secretary Claudio Avruj, and Boca Juniors president Daniel Angelici were other names close to Macri to surface in the investigation, which is still underway.
Furthermore, a former private secretary to previous presidents Néstor and Cristina (Fernández de) Kirchner, Daniel Muñoz, has been listed as a main shareholder of an enterprise in the Cayman Islands in 2010. Muñoz had previously been accused of transferring unlawful funds for the first couple, though no charges were ever brought forward. The Kirchner family released a statement yesterday saying: “The family does not possess a single bank account, or company, or any kind of asset abroad… the person who is the central protagonist of the revelations is, unfortunately for our country, none other than the President of the Republic, Mauricio Macri.”
Around Latin America
The Panama Papers affair has hit powerful figures in countries across Latin America.
In Mexico, Juan Armando Hinojosa Cantú, a long time business associate and close friend of President Enrique Peña Nieto, was shown to have sought a string of offshore locations to store money earned mostly from lucrative government contacts.
The Panama Papers website purports he has earned at least US$750m in business with governmental agencies and the documents reveal that he moved at least US$100m through a myriad of networks and associations to New Zealand in 2015.
In Brazil, where federal police have already raided the local office of Mossack Fonseca as part of an ongoing probe into corruption, members of several political parties were linked to the offshore files. These include the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) – which last week split from the ruling coalition – and the opposition Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB).
In Peru, two major backers of Keiko Fujimori, who is leading the race to become president next week, were linked to the Panama leaks.
There have also been further cases brought to light in Chile, Colombia, Honduras, Panama, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela.
The post Panama Papers: Macri Under Fire over Links to Offshore Company appeared first on The Argentina Independent.