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FROM THE CHRONICLES of Monte Friesner – Criminal & Intelligence Analyst and Consulaire for WANTED SA~ ~Contributed & Written by Kenneth Rijock
Recent Panama Papers disclosures included details of the formation, by Mossack and Fonseca, of British Virgin Islands companies, by a university situated in Hong Kong. The facts raise an interesting question: was the university using an offshore corporation to covertly move cash, of one of its largest benefactors (he donated $2m) , out of the Peoples' Republic ? Or was it illicit money of Chinese PEPs ?
Ordinarily, we would not find the BVI company formation suspicious, or unusual, as other Hong Kong schools of higher education have also obtained offshore companies in this fashion, but there are a number of red flags:
(1) The school failed to report the companies in its financial statements and reports, which is curious.
(2) the school went to the Hong Kong office of Mossack & Fonseca, rather than its usual suppliers of services.
(3) Considering the availability of offshore corporations, formed in tax haven jurisdictions located in the Asia/Pacific region, one wonders why the university chose the BVI, which is notorious for the opaque nature of its corporation laws, the difficulty of obtaining documents in a timely manner, and the widespread use of BVI companies, by the Mossack firm, for dodgy purposes.
The facts raise two questions:
(A) Were these university-controlled companies use in a pipeline, through which funds of a wealthy Mainland Chinese businessman, with close ties to senior government officials, were moved offshore ?
or
(B) Were the BVI companies used, by the donor, to move illegal bribes and kickbacks, obtained by senior Chinese officials, out of the country ? After all, who would suspect a university of such conduct.
One wonders whether the use of legitimate front entities, to transfer and launder money, was a standard policy of the law firm of Mossack and Fonseca ? If so, we will probably see more examples of such amoral conduct, as additional Panama Papers documents and files are made public.
WANTED SA kindly thanks US Treasury, Kenneth Rijock, AFP, Reuters, BBC, Associated Press, DEA, FBI, ICE, Westlaw, Arutz Sheva, and all the Parties, Press, Journalists, Law Enforcement and Securities forces who have contributed to the many articles and their sincere opinions and statements.
WANTED SA states that the facts and opinions stated in this article are those of the author and not those of WANTED SA. We do not warrant the accuracy of any of the facts and opinions stated in this article nor do we endorse them or accept any form of responsibility for the articles.
