Einsenmann's Own Daughter Directly involved in Swiss Bank Scandal

The daughter of businessman Roberto Eisenmann, honorary president of Panamanian daily La Prensa, has been shown to have had a banking relationship with one of the main banks linked with law firm Mossack & Fonseca, currently involved in a world-wide scandal.   Ms. Denise Eisenmann is shown to have deposited $657,000 in an account held at the Zurich branch of Swiss bank UBS AG, on behalf of a company named Hialing Corporation, S.A.. Panama America had access to official documents carrying Ms. Eisenmann’s own signature, which corroborate that said cheque deposit occurred on Novermber 24, 2014. The husband of Mr. Eisenmann’s niece, Pablo Andrés Obregón Ruiz, is known to have acted first as operating partner and later as president of Hialing Corporation, S.A., a firm that benefited from direct business contracts granted by the National Assistance Programme (PAN, in Spanish), a Panamanian government agency aimed to help the more in need. Mr. Pablo Andrés Obregón Ruiz was singled out by the PAN’s own former director, Mr. Rafael Guardia Jaén, in two separate judicial investigations, one relating to grain purchases and another to schoolbags purchased by the Education Ministry.  Documents released earlier this week have shown that UBS AG participated, along with approximately  500 banks globally, in helping clients of Panamanian firm Mossack & Fonseca evade taxes through corporations held in tax havens.   According to Mexican daily El Economista, Mossack & Fonseca incorporated 214,000 offshore companies, of which 1,100 with the direct involvement of UBS. Denial Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela and his government yesterday rejected as unfair and discriminatory the communiqué issued by the OECD, which qualifies Panama as an opaque jurisdiction that tolerates a “culture of secrecy”.   The government letter, addressed to José Ángel Gurría, Secretary General of the OECD club of nations, was oddly signed by the acting Foreign Minister and not by the sitting Foreign Minister or by the Panamanian President himself. In it, the Panamanian government laments “the OECD communique’s disregard for the fact that there is not a single aspect of Panamanian law or culture that has fostered this kind of unlawful practices”.  This follows France’s Finance Minister’s decision to include Panama in the country’s list of tax havens. After holding a meeting with the local diplomatic corps, President Juan Carlos Varela last night announced that he had instructed Vice President and Foreign Minister Isabel de Saint Malo to proceed to inform the OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes, of Panama’s full commitment towards achieving common ground.  Mr. Varela also announced that the Panamanian Foreign Ministry will put together an independent committee made up of national and international experts, yet to be named, whose remit will be “to assess our practices and to propose new measures, in conjunctions with partner countries around the world, aimed at strengthening the transparency of the financial and legal system”.  The President read out a short, prepared statement and refused to take questions from local and international media present.