Washington: The recent paradise papers leak revealed various names involved in offshore investments.
A recent US media on Sunday reported US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has been in business with the Russian President Vladimir Putin associates and his relatives.
An offshore law firm Appleby is reported to have revealed that US Secretary reportedly invested in a shipping firm in ties with Russian President’s inner circle.
The billionaire investor behind helping US President to shape the trade Policy, Secretary Ross has around 31 percent stake in Navigator Holdings which according to the New York Times earns millions of dollars yearly through transporting gas for the Russian petrochemical firm Sibur.
The offshore firm has also revealed the stakeholders of the Russian frim Sibur has Kirill Shamalov President Putin’s son-in-law, Gennady Timchenko, Putin’s associate subject to U.S. sanctions and also a Russian oligarch.
So far there is no confirmation about the revealed data.
Department of Commerce spokesman replying to the business revelation’s with President Putin’s close associates said in an emailed statement that Mr. Ross “was not involved in Navigator’s decision to engage in business with Sibur … has never met the Sibur shareholders referenced in this story and, until now, did not know of their relationship”, adding that when Navigator began its relationship with the public firm, the Russian petrochemical firm was not under sanctions.
In an official statement from the firm Sibur it said that over the past years negotiations with the Navigator had been carried out by it firm’s executives and not its shareholders and that “no meetings were held with Mr. Ross.”
None of the firms could be reached for any confirmation on the reports said Reuters.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) had last year published the Panama papers leak from the Panama Law firm Mossack Fonseca. The reports related to the Paradise papers have been obtained from a German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung which were again shared by the ICIJ.
These reports have resulted in a probe into Russia’s ties with Trump’s administrations and its alleged interference in the 2016 elections.
The reports have also indicated that though other nations quit business dealings with Sibur seeking to punish the firm over Putin’s intrusion into Ukraine, Mr. Ross continued to keep his investments in Navigator which was increasing its business with Sibur.
In a report filed in December last year, even before Mr. Ross officially joined the Trump’s administration, Navigator was mentioned in his 57-page public financial disclosure report.
“The Secretary recuses himself from matters focused on transoceanic shipping vessels,” the Commerce Department spokesman’s statement said, adding that Ross works closely with officials to ensure the “highest ethical standards.”
Queen Elizabeth’s private offshore investments in Cayman Islands fund had also been disclosed in the leaks according to a UK’s Guardian newspaper.
However, Reuters could not confirm that either with the Guardian.
The newspaper said the Duchy indicating the UK’s Queen had used offshore private equity funds designed to shield investors in the United Kingdom from having to pay U.S. tax on their holdings.
Duchy of Lancaster spokeswoman said: “We operate a number of investments and a few of these are with overseas funds. All of our investments are fully audited and legitimate,” adding that Queen does pays tax on any income received from the Duchy.
The Guardian also reported that international trading firm Glencore had “secretly loaned tens of millions of dollars” to Israeli businessman Dan Gertler, after enlisting him to secure a mining deal in the Democratic Republic of Congo, who denied from any wrongdoings in the business.
Glencore in a statement addressed to the ICIJ said that the official loan they gave to a company related to Gertler in 2009 have been fully repaid.
The Glencore said, “In February 2009, Glencore Finance (Bermuda) Ltd made a loan to Lora Enterprises Limited (Lora), an entity affiliated with Mr Gertler,” the company said.
“The loan to Lora was made on commercial terms negotiated at arm’s length,” it said. “The loan was fully repaid by Lora in 2010.”