Leong: No comments on ‘Panama Papers’ leaks

A marquee of the Arango Orillac Building lists the Mossack Fonseca law firm in Panama City

Macau’s Secretary for Economy and Finance, Lionel Leong, told reporters yesterday that the government needs more time and information before commenting on the so-called “Panama Papers” documents, which are believed to have been leaked from Panama-based law firm, Mossack Fonseca.
Leong added that he has “no knowledge on the involvement of any local companies in this scheme.”
Franco Dragone, creator and director of City of Dream’s “House of Dancing Water,” is allegedly among those implicated in an international media investigation which has exposed hidden offshore financial arrangements in the wake of the information disseminated by German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung which has been shared with more than 100 media organizations.
The daily Belgian newspaper Le Soir reported that Franco Dragone’s name had been found linked to the “Panama Papers.”
Le Soir commented: “The talented stage director […] is equally competent and imaginative when it comes to concealing financial transactions and contracts in exotic paradise.”
The Panama-based law firm operates a “regional head office” out of their Mossack Fonseca & Co. (Asia) unit based in Tsim Sha Tsui in Hong Kong. The office operates as just one of eight China-based units, and is alleged to be connected to individuals mentioned in the documents.
According to information leaked throughout the almost 11.5 million file cache of documents, and published on infographic website, The Atlas, Hong Kong has rated as the ninth most popular tax haven, behind British Anguilla and Nevada.
However, sorted by the number of intermediaries operating in such schemes, including banks, law firms and accountants, Hong Kong outstrips all others with 2,212 mentions in the “Panama Papers,” out of the approximately 14,000 clients with which Mossack Fonseca is alleged to have worked. The city also tops the list of countries and territories with the most active intermediaries, with 37,675 offshore companies.
The accusations leveled against individuals incriminated in the leaked files include money laundering, avoiding sanctions and evading taxation.
Among the Hong Kong individuals implicated in the documents is executive director Thomas Chan of Hong Kong-based Sun Hung Kai Properties, Asia’s largest property developer. Chan was arrested in 2012 as part of a corruption probe by HKSAR’s Independent Commission Against Corruption.
The leaked papers reveal that the case sparked internal disagreements within Mossack Fonseca over whether to terminate the company’s relationship with the senior executive who was found guilty and sentenced in 2014.
Furthermore, in an embarrassing blow against the central government’s anti-corruption purge, various leaders within senior ranks of the Communist Party of China have also been identified in the documents. These range from Xi Jinping’s brother-in-law, Deng Jiagui, who owns two offshore companies registered by Hong Kong-based WBC Secretaries Limited, to the family of former Chinese premier Li Peng.
It may also stand in contrast with Beijing’s policy to curb out- bound investments in order to stymie capital flight and restore a weakening yuan.
China’s media coverage of the “Panama Papers” scandal was initially limited to accusations against Russian President Vladimir Putin. More recently however, the media coverage has been further restricted and a number of China-based news reports have been removed altogether.
Current restrictions extend to social media and search engines like Baidu, where the search “Panama Papers” (in simplified characters) retrieves the message: “The search results are not shown as they may not be in accordance with relevant laws, regulations and policies.”
On Weibo, searching for the term only retrieves results relating to foreign politicians identified in the leak.
Chinese tabloid Global Times accused Western media of scrutinizing only individuals from non-Western countries, adding that the Western media “has taken control of the interpretation each time there has been such a document dump,” and that “Washington has demonstrated particular influence [in the past]”. Daniel Beitler