A Singaporean firm has helped international criminals, including corrupt politicians, hide their money and set up shadow businesses, according to a massive leak of documents.
Among the trove of documents leaked to a sprawling coalition of journalists worldwide exposing shady offshore dealings were about two million from Singaporean firm AsiaCiti Trust. They showed the firm was slow to flag clients involved in international corruption and enabled unscrupulous individuals such as corrupt politicians and business figures in Nigeria, Myanmar, and Zimbabwe.
Dubbed the “Pandora Papers,” the worldwide effort of more than 600 journalists involved sifting through millions of documents leaked from offshore wealth service providers that show how trusts are abused to shield wealth from scrutiny and taxation.
AsiaCiti, a family-run business of 43 years founded by Australian accountant Graeme W. Briggs, was one of the 14 firms from which documents were leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, or ICIJ. AsiaCiti, which also operates out of Hong Kong, Cook Islands, Nevis, New Zealand, Panama, and Samoa, responded Monday, saying that media reports were based on “incomplete and sometimes erroneous information” which sought to “negatively characterize our industry, company, and clients.”
“The media coverage by the ICIJ and its partners is largely based on illegally obtained information and contains numerous inaccuracies and instances where important details are missing,” it added. “In many cases the stories published do not represent all the facts or context of a situation. This has led to grossly misleading inferences and conclusions about Asiaciti Trust.”
The Monetary Authority of Singapore told The Straits Times yesterday that it was “examining” the Pandora Papers reports and would continue to closely supervise AsiaCiti, which was fined over a million Singapore dollars last year for inadequate compliance with anti-money laundering and terrorism financing measures between 2007 and 2018. ICIJ said the firm was still slow in flagging international corruption cases after that period, including those linked to fugitive Moldovan politician Vladimir Plahotniuc.
The 1,800,650 AsiaCiti files referenced dealings from 1996 to 2019, the report said. Nigerian politician Abubakar Atiku Bagudu who helped former dictator Sani Abacha embezzle and launder millions in public funds, had held US$17 million in a trust fund set up by AsiaCiti, which also started two shell companies for the family of Myanmar’s corrupt former agriculture minister, retired Maj. Gen. Nyunt Tin, to purchase property in Singapore and set up an investment firm for his son. In 2013, AsiaCiti also set up a US$100 million trust for the wife of Zimbabwean businessman Billy Rautenbach after he was sanctioned for supporting mining projects benefiting shady officials and having close relations with Robert Mugabe’s oppressive regime.
In Monday’s statement, AsiaCiti insisted that it maintains a “strong compliance program” while also noting that “no compliance program is infallible” but it would take action when an issue was identified.
“We recognize there have been isolated instances in the past where we have not kept pace, and in these situations we have worked closely with regulatory authorities to address any deficiencies and quickly updated our policies and procedures,” said the firm boasting on its website for being able to set up “corporate vehicles” in other jurisdictions such as the British Virgin Islands, and Cayman Islands, depending on their client’s needs.
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