Caribbean Investment Holdings Refutes Claim in Panama Papers

By now, most would have heard of the controversial Panama Papers, a trove of documents leaked by the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).  In a nutshell, the documents taken from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca reveal the ways in which powerful individuals can exploit secretive offshore tax regimes, but interestingly no one from the United States is listed. Closer to home, the ICIJ suggested that amongst the “Panama Papers” were documents indicating the involvement of a number of subsidiary companies of Caribbean Investment Holdings Limited.  CIHL issued a statement this afternoon disclaiming the report about them as false. In fact, the ICIJ has proceeded to remove those references from its website.  And for any avoidance of doubt, CIHL says that its subsidiary, Belize Corporate Services Limited (BCS) has never used Mossack Fonseca to provide shell corporations for its clients nor has the Belize Bank Limited, established any company for Jurgen Mossack, Ramón Fonseca and Christopher Zollinger. Specifically, it did not establish M.F. and Company (Belize) Limited nor has BCS ever cooperated with M.F. and Company Limited in creating companies and acting as registered agents. The statement concludes by saying that the Belize Bank Limited, Belize Bank International Limited, Belize Corporate Services Limited and Lord Michael Ashcroft deny that they have in some way partnered or have done business with Mossack Fonseca.