Latin America

Judi Lynn

(160,598 posts) Fri Apr 8, 2016, 08:47 AM Apr 2016

Panama Papers: Questions for the Argentine President

Panama Papers: Questions for the Argentine President

Mauricio Macri will appear before a federal judge in connection with his links to an offshore account.

At a news conference Thursday, Macri said: “I have acted in accordance with the law and have nothing to hide.”

The Panama Papers allege the president did not disclose his ties to a firm in which he was a director from 1998 to 2009. Macri’s response:

Macri's official spokesman Ivan Pavlovsky said that the Argentine president didn't list Fleg Trading Ltd. as an asset because he had no capital participation in the company. The company, used to participate in interests in Brazil, was related to the family business group. "This is why Maricio Macri was occasionally its director," he said, reiterating that Macri was not a shareholder.

As we’ve previously pointed out, offshore accounts are perfectly legal in many situations, but links to one can prove uncomfortable for politicians because such accounts are often setup to avoid taxes (again, in many cases, perfectly legal). Indeed, the Panama Papers have already cost Iceland’s prime minister his job, and David Cameron, the U.K. prime minister, acknowledged Thursday he once had a stake in his father’s offshore trust, prompting calls for him to step down. It’s unclear if such pressure will be exerted on Macri, the Argentine leader; even his critics acknowledge that he may not have committed a crime—but as Brooke Harrington noted in The Atlantic, “the real scandal is what is legal.”

http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/04/panama-papers-argentina-macri/477462/

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Panama Papers: Questions for the Argentine President (Original Post) Judi Lynn Apr 2016 OP

Argentina's president Mauricio Macri fights back after Panama Papers reveal offshore links Judi Lynn Apr 2016 #1

Why no questions for Putin? Marksman_91 Apr 2016 #2

Judi Lynn

(160,598 posts)

1. Argentina's president Mauricio Macri fights back after Panama Papers reveal offshore links

Reply to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Fri Apr 8, 2016, 08:54 AM

Apr 2016

Argentina's president Mauricio Macri fights back after Panama Papers reveal offshore links

Macri says he has nothing to hide after prosecutor calls for investigation into his links to an offshore company

Jonathan Watts Latin America correspondent and agencies
Friday 8 April 2016 04.52 EDT

The Argentinian president, Mauricio Macri will appear before a judge on Friday to refute allegations that he secretly benefited from an offshore company named in the Panama Papers.

Prosecutors have called for an investigation of his ties with Bahamas-based company, Fleg Trading, which were revealed by the leak from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.

Macri - who was listed as a director of Fleg Trading from 1998 until 2009 - did not mention the company in his 2007 financial declaration, when he became mayor of Buenos Aires, or in his 2015 declaration when he became president.

In a televised address on Thursday, the president said he was calm. “I know there are people who are concerned about the accusations,” he told the nation. “I have acted in accordance with the law, I have told the truth and I have nothing to hide.”

. . .

“All these companies are created as vehicles to launder assets, evade tax or commit other crimes,” lawmaker Norman Dario Martinez noted in a complaint filed earlier this week. “They are registered in tax havens like the Bahamas to protect the financial secrets of directors and shareholders, and hide their operations.”

State prosecutor Federico Delgado asked the judiciary on Thursday to investigate if Macri’s failure to declare his connection with the offshore company meant he had “maliciously failed to complete his tax declaration”, a crime which carries a sentence of 15 days to two years.

More:
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/08/argentina-president-maurio-macri-fights-back-after-panama-papers-reveal-offshore-links

Marksman_91

(2,035 posts)

2. Why no questions for Putin?

Reply to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Sat Apr 9, 2016, 02:16 AM

Apr 2016

Oh, right, you cannot mention anyone who's a big ally of the criminal regimes you love to idolize to be in the same kind of shady shit.

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