Mossack Fonseca Abetting Clients in Structuring Opaque Strategies

A recent news report published by Australian daily Financial Review, casts serious doubts on the truthfulness of the repeated public assertions made by Ramon Fonseca Mora (founding partner of law firm Mossack Fonseca) over the firm’s actual knowledge of its clients’ ultimate dealings. Mr. Fonseca Mora has been uncompromising in his declarations that his law firm was unaware of the fact that some of its clients intended to employ those offshore companies it sold them in order to hide information such as the identity of their ultimate beneficial owners.

In an article entitled “The Panama Papers: New twist to Malta's Mossack Fonseca bank saga”, the Australian daily reveals email exchanges between a Panama-based company representative and members of the government of Malta. The information highlights the firm’s involvement in helping their Maltese clients set up two New Zealand-based trust companies. “The Mossack Fonseca documents allow for a more complete chronology of how the Panama-New Zealand structure was set up”, the Financial Review reports. A damning email dating back to 2013 from Mossack Fonseca lawyer Luis Quiel to one of the clients, a certain Mr. Cini, casts light on the apparent scheme employed to maintain the confidentiality of the companies’ final beneficiaries. In his 2013 email, “Mr. Cini stated that the Panama company was not for Nexia BT, but that the ultimate beneficial owner would be a particular client which he did not identify in an email but would name in a Skype conversation” with Luis Quiel. The report goes on to highlight how “on July 28 2014, Mr Cini asked Mossack for details about a "Look Through Company" in New Zealand, which pays no tax on foreign income, and a New Zealand bank account”.

The Financial Review also published the details of another compromising email exchange, between a Mr. Schembri and Mossack Fonseca employee Jacqueline Alexander. In an email dated 17 April  2013, “Mr Schembri gave signed instructions for his shares in Colson to be transferred to a Mossack nominee company in Panama, while a Mossack Fonseca employee [Jacqueline Alexander], would replace Schembri as a nominee director of Colson.”, the Financial Review reports. At the time, Mr. Schembri was Chief of Staff of Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat.