The Samoa High Commissioner in Australia is implicated in leaked documents as playing a role in setting up shell companies through Panama.
It’s being called the biggest data leak in history: Eleven and half million files dubbed “The Panama Papers” detail tax havens often used by the rich and famous.
The three firms are under U.S. sanctions for allegedly providing petroleum supplies to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime likely to be used by his military, including aviation fuel.
According to papers from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca , Samoan’s embassy in Canberra , was routinely used to set up shell companies offshore.
Sometimes referred to as a “letterbox” firm because it is little more than an address, a shell company appears to be a legitimate business but only manages the money in it. Its management, usually lawyers and accountants, simply sign documents and allow their names to appear on a letterhead.
The Samoan high commissioner in Australia, Hinauri Petana, initially said in a statement she was not aware of any instances where documents had been received from Mossack Fonseca for legalization, but later clarified and said some documents had been forwarded for processing only to foreign authorities.
One email from Mossack Fonseca’s Samoan office, dated 16 April 2013, details the process of sending documents from Samoa to Australia and then to the United Arab Emirates.
A Mossack Fonseca employee wrote:“We had forwarded on 15 March 2013 to the Samoa high commission a Certificate of Good Standing for the above company for authentication by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and then to be forwarded to the UAE embassy for further endorsement.”
Other leaked documents demonstrate a similar process was followed for numerous companies created by Mossack Fonseca, with documents being notarized by the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs, and the embassy or consulate of another country, before then being couriered onwards from the Samoan high commission.
The documents outline in detail the process for setting up shell companies, and the unusual involvement of the Samoan high commission in Australia.
The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade frequently provides what are known as legalization services” for documents to help them meet foreign governments’ requirements.
One of the companies created in this way was later found to have deliberately engaged in “deceptive measures” by the US government to supply aviation oil to the Syrian regime in 2013 and 2014.
One such shell company Pangates sanctioned by the US Treasury which stated: “From at least 2012 to April 2014, Pangates supplied the government of Syria, including SYTROL, with a large amount of specialty petroleum products. Although these products can be used for military or civilian purposes, they have limited civilian application in Syria.”
The company says it has been operating since for 40 years and has never been charged with criminal wrong-doing.
