A new leak of information, this time about the secrets kept in the Bahamas, returns to stir up the debate of how tax havens are used by the powerful to avoid paying their tax obligations in their countries.
Bahamas Leaks is the most recent chapter of the series of revelations of journalists, led by the International Consortium of Journalists (ICIJ, its acronym in English), this time with leaked information to the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, as it was in the Panama Papers, and Connectas, which form a part of the team that reviewed this new database with thirty media.
At least a hundred colombians, different to those that appear in earlier revelations, are mentioned in the 1.3 million leaked documents. They include, primarily, business-related firms of wide experience in sectors such as transport, tourism, finance and construction, among others. It also exposes a sort of "specialization" of the Bahamas to create societies that, in essence, serve to hide the real owners of assets located primarily in the united States.
This publication in any case points to illegality because, in themselves, the activities with the tax advantages are not, except if the resources are of illicit origin. Only constitute an irregularity tax if so determined by the authorities of each country according to its own legislation. In this note, Connectas focuses on people who have had public responsibilities, or which, from their private activities, have achieved high proximity to public leaders.
it Is the case of the former minister of Mines Carlos Caballero Argáez. A renowned engineer and academic whose prestige and long curriculum gives vertigo: civil engineer from the University of the Andes, with a master’s degree in transportation engineering from the University of California, the other in public affairs from Princeton University and a third in history at Los Andes; former minister of Mines and Energy from 1999 to 2001; he was also the director of Fedesarrollo, president of the Banking Association of Colombia, director and member of the board of the Bank of the Republic, director of Proexpo, president of Bancoldex and president of the Stock exchange in Bogota; he currently directs the School of Government Alberto Lleras Camargo of the Universidad de los Andes; he is a member of one of the families of the most traditional capital.
According to the information of the Bahamas Leaks, at the end of the 1990s, Argáez bought a property in the exclusive residential area of Key Biscayne, in the county of Miami-Dade. The former minister confirmed that he made the transaction with three partners, all now deceased, but who at the time also enjoyed well-know presence in the life in bogota. Argáez mentioned to Roberto Posada Garcia-Pena, Juan Arciniegas Franco and Germán Vargas Espinosa.
The investment took, however, an indirect pathway. Made by PAVC Properties Inc., a company registered in the Bahamas. Why? Caballero Argáez accepts it bluntly: "we Chose The Bahamas at that time because we recommend a few attorneys for tax issues", he answered journalists of this research. He added that the company PAVC Properties Inc., of which he was president and secretary between 1997 and 2008, was "to evade the payment of taxes in the shares of the company." Faced with the question, responded that he had not declared the company to the DIAN.
In 2008, Caballero Argáez handed over the presidency of PAVC Properties Inc. Enrique Vargas Lleras, the son of Germán Vargas Espinosa. For this note failed to determine what was the fate of the shares of the company of the partners died. Vargas Lleras was councilman and candidate for mayor of Bogotá, a member of the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce of the city manager and Vargas Abogados y Cía. Ltda. Most recently he was in the center of the controversy when he identified contracts his law firm with the group Saludcoop-Cafesalud-White Cross, businesses in the health sector that have been questioned for misappropriation of funds.
Among other activities, Enrique Vargas Lleras, currently, is manager of the committee of the Partido Radical Change for the Yes to the referendum on the agreement between the Government and the Farc. For this publication, were sent a questionnaire and made follow-up at the same to learn more about your role in this company, the activities of this firm since his presidency, and on the report to the tax authorities of the same, but there was no response at the close of this publication.
For his part, Caballero Argáez also appeared with another company in the Bahamas: Norway Inc. This was recorded in 1990 along with his three brothers, was suspended in 2004 and, according to the records, was reactivated for a short period in 2015. Knight said: "The company ended when my father died in July of 2011. His only asset was an investment account in a bank in Miami." Said that if the firm is still registered, you should proceed to liquidation.
Caballero Argáez was linked to these societies during the time that he served as minister of Mines and as part of the board of directors of the Bank of the Republic. In response to the questionnaire sent, assured that this, in no time, meant a conflict of interest.
the leaking of The record business of the Bahamas contains the names of the directors and some owners of close to 176,000 companies, foundations, and funds registered between 1990 and the beginning of 2016.
The Bahamas are a constellation of about 700 islands. Nassau, its capital, is less than an hour by plane from the united States. Their laws sensitive and their reluctance to share information with foreign governments put on the radar of the tax authorities in the world. In the year of 2014, Colombia included the caribbean nation in its list of tax havens.
Another influential colombian in the records is the civil engineer Luis Carlos Sarmiento Gutiérrez, president of Corficolombiana and Grupo Aval, the largest financial group in Colombia, and one of the richest men in the country. Sarmiento Gutiérrez is listed in the registry of the Bahamas as the sole director of Beach Cliff Properties ltd., a company registered on 13 January 2010. At the close of this publication there was no response to the questionnaire sent, in which he is consulted on the activities of this company and its current state.
The documents published by the ICIJ, Süddeutsche Zeitung and other media partners can be found at www.connectas.org. This information was combined with data from the Panama Papers and the findings of the first publication of this type called Off-shore Leaks, which creates the main public registry of entities in tax havens in the world.
The published data show the basic structures of the companies with tax advantages: the company name, its creation date, the e-mail address in the Bahamas and, in some cases, the company directors, who make the decisions. Usually, researchers anti-fraud use these records as a starting point to investigate chains of illegality, as the combination of these similar databases provides new insights into the relationships of the powerful, of a different nature to evade their obligations, as well as the intermediaries who help to move the money.
"The records of companies are incredibly important," he said, to the ICIJ. Debra LaPrevotte, a former special agent of the FBI, whose work included the search in tax havens of billions of dollars of corrupt politicians of the Ukraine, Nigeria and Bangladesh. "The companies offshore are many times used as intermediaries to facilitate the laundering of money and, frequently, companies only use them to open bank accounts. Thus, the registry of companies allows you to identify the beneficiaries and are part of the evidence."
In the revelations of the Bahamas Leaks also appear colombians with criminal proceedings in progress, related to these foreign operations. It is the case of Thomas Jaramillo Botero and Juan Carlos Ortiz, who are associated with the signature Premium Capital Investments Advisors Ltd. This society, which, according to the records of the press, was originally incorporated in Delaware, united States of America, and was transformed into a corporation in the Bahamas, is one of the key pieces in the financial scandal of Interbolsa, by which Jaramillo and Ortiz are deprived of freedom.
For nearly a century, the Bahamas has been on the radar of the tax authorities around the world. It has been so much their level of secrecy, at a time, selling itself as "the Switzerland of the west". Without a doubt, a gear fundamental that with these revelations, news begins to be exposed.
Note prepared with information obtained in conjunction with excerpts from the notes of the The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and the Süddeutsche Zeitung
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