Panama papers: Names of John Addo Kufuor and Kojo Annan pop up
The names of Mr John Addo Kufour, a son of former President J.A. Kufuor and Mr Kojo Annan, son of former UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan have popped up in an investigative piece dubbed the "Panama Papers" and authored by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on offshore business.
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The Panama Papers is an unprecedented investigation that reveals the offshore links of some of the globe’s most prominent figures.
The data provides rare insights and proves how a global industry led by major banks, legal firms, and asset management companies secretly manages the estates of the world’s rich and famous: from politicians, Fifa officials, fraudsters and drug smugglers, to celebrities and professional athletes.
The massive leak of documents, which were all hidden in 11.5 million secret files exposes the offshore holdings of 12 current and former world leaders and provides details of the hidden financial dealings of politicians and public officials around the world.
They were leaked from one of the world's most secretive companies, Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.
It shows how Mossack Fonseca helped clients launder money, dodge sanctions and evade tax and how the rich and powerful use tax havens to hide their wealth.
The leak also exposes confidential documents and the names of 140 politicians including Heads of State, their associates, ministers and elected officials from more than 50 countries who are connected to offshore companies in 21 tax havens.
Mr Kufuor and Mr Annan are the only Ghanaians whose names have popped up among the findings of the year-long investigation by the ICIJ, German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and more than 100 other news organizations.
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Current and former world leaders in the data include prime ministers of Iceland and Pakistan, the president of Ukraine, and the King of Saudi Arabia
More than 214,000 offshore entities appear in the leak, connected to people in more than 200 countries and territories
The global investigation also throws light on the sprawling, secretive industry of offshore that the world’s rich and powerful use to hide assets and skirt rules by setting up front companies in far-flung jurisdictions.
The report by ICIJ however explains that there are legitimate uses for offshore companies, foundations and trusts and that the intention was not to suggest or imply that any persons, companies or other entities included in the ICIJ report have broken the law or otherwise acted improperly.
It goes further to explain that engaging in offshore business in itself was not illegal.
John Addo Kufuor
According to the report published by the ICIJ, Mr Addo Kufuor’s offshore company controlled a $75,000 bank account for him and his mother [Mrs Theresa Kufuor].
It said in early 2001, shortly after the start of President Kufuor’s first term, Mr Addo Kufuor appointed Mossack Fonseca to manage The Excel 2000 Trust.
Later that year, it controlled a bank account in Panama worth $75,000.
His mother - Theresa Kufuor, then-Ghana’s first lady - was also a beneficiary.
In 2012, Kufuor asked Mossack Fonseca to close the trust. Files also connected Kufuor with BVI companies Fordiant Ltd and Stamford International Investments Group Limited.
Both were registered when Kufuor’s father was president of Ghana and became inactive in 2004 and 2007.
According to the ICIJ, when Mr Addo Kufuor was repeatedly contacted for a comment, he did not respond.
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Mr Addo Kufuor is the eldest son of Ghana’s former president, John Agyekum Kufuor, who led the country from 2001 to 2009.
As a trained accountant, the younger Kufuor has worked in the hotel industry.
Throughout 2005, there were media reports of allegations that he gained lucrative government contracts and private sector business deals through paternal connections.
An official commission later found no evidence of wrongdoing.
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Kojo Annan
In the case of Mr Kojo Annan who is the son of former United Nations Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, who served from 1997 to 2006, he used an offshore company to buy a $500,000 London apartment, according to Mossack Fonseca data.
The files state that the Swiss company, Cotecna hired Kojo Annan in 1995 for work in Nigeria. By early 1998, he had quit to become a consultant to Cotecna. Months later, the United Nations awarded the firm a contract as part of Oil-for-Food humanitarian program in Iraq, prompting allegations of impropriety.
An independent panel investigated the program, including Mr Annan, and issued a report in 2005 that found no evidence that he tried to influence or to use family connections to benefit from the program.
Annan and Cotecna have consistently denied allegations of wrongdoing.
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The files added that Annan was sole director of the Samoan company Sapphire Holding Ltd, originally incorporated in Niue in 2003, which he had used to buy an apartment in central London.
The apartment was purchased in a transaction completed in 2003 for more than $500,000, according to U.K. records.
Sapphire Holding used unnamed shareholders until 2015 when Mr Annan became a listed shareholder with a Ghana address.
Mossack Fonseca continued to communicate with Annan at the central London address, Argyll Mansions, into 2015. Annan was also a joint shareholder and director of two British Virgin Islands companies incorporated in 2002.
However, a lawyer for Annan responded that his companies "operate in accordance with the laws and regulations of the relevant jurisdictions and, insofar tax liabilities arise, they pay taxes in the jurisdictions in which taxes are due to be paid.
“In other words, any entity and account held by Mr. Annan has been opened solely for normal, legal purposes of managing family and business matters and has been fully disclosed in accordance with applicable laws."
He also noted that an investigation found no evidence that Mr Annan tried to influence anyone in the UN to award contracts to any company with which he was associated.
How the investigations started
The ICIJ explained that over a year ago, an anonymous source contacted the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) and submitted encrypted internal documents from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm that sells anonymous offshore companies around the world. These shell firms enable their owners to cover up their business dealings, no matter how shady.
In the months that followed, the number of documents continued to grow far beyond the original leak. Ultimately, SZ acquired about 2.6 terabytes of data, making the leak the biggest that journalists had ever worked with. The source wanted neither financial compensation nor anything else in return, apart from a few security measures.
The data provides rare insights into a world that can only exist in the shadows. It proves how a global industry led by major banks, legal firms, and asset management companies secretly manages the estates of the world’s rich and famous: from politicians, Fifa officials, fraudsters and drug smugglers, to celebrities and professional athletes.
Credit: International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)