Pandora Papers in Latin America: Three active heads of state and 11 former presidents named
Three current and 11 retired presidents, 90 politicians in the upper echelons of power, entire religious congregations, world-famous artists, billionaires and even the governor of a central bank; in Latin America, an array of influential figures have made use of tax havens over the years.
Despite inhabiting the region dogged by the most inequality in the world - top 10% earn nearly half the region's income - members of Latin America's elite have used a network of trusts, shell companies and opaque business records in places such as the British Virgin Islands and Panama to keep substantial assets from public scrutiny.
While the results of the investigation have a global impact, they are particularly earth-shattering in Latin America, where an estimated $40 billion is diverted to tax havens each year.
Of the 35 presidents or former presidents named, 14 are from this region. Most are conservative.
Among them are three active heads of state, who have all been wealthy businessmen: Chile’s Sebastián Piñera, Ecuador’s Guillermo Lasso, and the Dominican Luis Abinader.
Eleven former presidents also appear: César Gaviria and Andrés Pastrana (Colombia); Alfredo Cristiani and Francisco Flores (El Salvado); Michel Martelly (Haiti); Porfirio Lobo (Honduras); Horacio Cartes (Paraguay); Pedro Kuczynski (Peru); and Juan Carlos Varela, Ricardo Martinelli and Ernesto Pérez from Panama - itself a notorious tax haven.
Brazil's current Economy Minister and Central Bank President, Paulo Guedes and Roberto Campos Neto, were also named.
At: https://english.elpais.com/usa/2021-10-03/pandora-papers-in-latin-america-three-active-heads-of-state-and-11-former-presidents-operated-in-tax-havens.html
Guillermo Lasso (Ecuador), Sebastián Piñera (Chile) and Luis Abinader (Dominican Republic) - all of whom were revealed to have undeclared overseas accounts in the Pandora Papers.
Of the 35 current or former heads of state named worldwide, 14 are from Latin America.
Others, such as former Argentine President Mauricio Macri, don't appear in the Pandora Papers - but have siblings who do. Macri appeared over 50 times in the 2016 Panama and Paradise Papers - but was acquitted by an allied judge before leaving office in 2019.
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It's widely believed that Paul Singer's Cayman laundromat NML, would make the Panama, Paradise, and Pandora papers look like a misplaced Post-It note by comparison.
