Data on more than 200 companies that engaged the Mauritius office of Conyers Dill & Pearman were published on the internet today by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) as a result of leak of confidential information.
The data, which concerns such household names as Whirlpool, Total S.A. and the Mayo Clinic, was gleaned from a leak of over 200,000 documents belonging to the offshore law firm.
Information published includes company name, shareholders, directors, beneficial owners, Conyers Dill’s role, proposed activity, and countries of activity.
This latest leak is accompanied by a series of news stories that conclude that Mauritius is a key player in tax avoidance, particularly avoidance of taxes in poor African countries
The ICIJ and 54 journalists from 18 countries analyzed the leaked documents. The ICIJ lists its major findings, as follows:
- New leak reveals how multinational companies used Mauritius to avoid taxes in countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas
- Law firm Conyers Dill & Pearman and major audit firms, including KPMG, enabled corporations operating in some of the world’s poorest nations to exploit tax loopholes
- A private equity push into Africa backed by anti-poverty crusader and rock star Bob Geldof benefited from Mauritius’ treaties that divert tax revenue away from Uganda and elsewhere
- Multi-billion dollar US companies Aircastle and Pegasus Capital Advisers cut taxes through confidential contracts, leases and loans involving Mauritius and other tax havens
- Officials from countries in Africa and Southeast Asia told ICIJ that tax treaties signed with Mauritius had cost them greatly and that renegotiating them was a priority
The ICIJ has previously published leaked documents exposing tax avoidance. In 2014, the group published confidential tax documents of PwC clients including 548 Luxembourg advance rulings. Some of these rulings became the subject of EU Commission State aid investigations. In early 2016, theICIJ group published 11.5 million leaked documents on 214,488 offshore entities from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The firm eventually closed down.
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