Paradise Papers: Journalists Found a Link of the Head of the US Commerce Department with Russia

5 October at the same time 400 journalists in 67 countries published their material on the financial secrets of politicians and officials. New global investigative journalism called Paradise Papers or “Documents from the paradise islands”, as the journalists analyzed data on the owners of offshore companies located mainly on small exotic islands.

In these documents communications of the head of the US Commerce Department, Wilbur Ross, with the Russian Sibur were found. Rtvi.

Ross through offshore partnerships in the Cayman Islands, managed by a law firm Appleby, owns 31,5% of the company Navigator Holdings Ltdbased on the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean. At the same time one of the largest partners Navigator - petrochemical holding "Sibur", which together own Leonid Mikhelson (48,5%), Gennady Timchenko (17%) and Kirill Shamalov (3,9%).

First ross firm WL Ross & Co acquired 19,4% stake Navigator in the 2011 year, then the next head of the US Department of Commerce took a seat on the firm’s board of directors. He later acquired a stake. Navigator at Lehman Brothersbecoming the largest shareholder Navigator.

At the start of 2012, Sibur chartered Navigator two vessels to transport liquefied petroleum gas to Europe. From 2014 to 2015, the company's profit from a deal with a Russian holding increased from $ 16,2 to $ 28,7 million. In total, business relations with Sibur brought Ross more than $ 68 million from 2014.

Ross left the board of directors Navigator in the 2014 year, when he became vice president of the Bank of Cyprus. Before taking a chair in Donald Trump’s cabinet in 2016, he left the management of most of his business assets. However, the share in Navigator in the amount of $ 2 million to $ 10 million, Ross retained and receives a large share of the profits as a general partner.

Infographics: RTVI

“Paradise Island Documents” contains 13,4 of a million documents telling about connections between Russia and the billion-dollar trade minister from the office of US President Donald Trump, about the secret activities of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s donation collector, and about the British Queen’s offshore interests and more than 120 politicians from all over the world, writes Center for the Investigation of Corruption and Organized Crime (OCCRP)who was one of the participants in the journalistic investigation.

From the leaked documents it is clear how closely the offshore financial system is connected with the multi-layered world of political games, private capital and giant companies, including Apple, Nike, Uber and other international corporations that evade taxes through increasingly sophisticated methods.

Documents obtained from business registries in 19 jurisdictions contain company names and information about them, as well as the names of directors and ultimate owners of firms registered in many of the most active offshore zones in the world.

The materials relate to the more or less prestigious strongholds of world shadow finance, including the Marshall Islands, Lebanon and Saint Kitts and Nevis. In some jurisdictions, these data are publicly available, but they cannot be searched by name. Other departments, such as the Cayman Islands, require more than 30 dollars for a one-page document containing only the most basic information. Another six registries data is not posted on the network.

The leaked files contain over a thousand documents from the Caribbean state of Antigua and Barbuda, which does not provide information online, and more than 600 thousands of documents from the Barbados online registry, which does not provide information about directors and shareholders.

Over the past decade or even longer, the European Union and other international organizations have been putting pressure on "offshore harbors" in an attempt to force them to carry out legislative reforms and have demanded that intermediary companies carefully check their clients. According to experts, progress is still insignificant for two reasons: it is not easy to change the working methods in such an extensive international structure, and besides it serves the interests of influential people and large companies.

Read also on ForumDaily:

Who was exposed in the “Paradise File”: from Abramovich and Poroshenko to the US Secretary of State

Paradise Papers: Journalists Find Queen Elizabeth II Offshore Investments

Paradise Papers: President of Ukraine created offshore companies for “tax purposes”

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