Mauritius leaks – how the rich and Bob Geldof pay low taxes

The Panama Papers in 2016 revealed how the super-rich and powerful stashed their money offshore when offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca was hacked. A plethora of celebrities were revealed to have employed the law firm to avoid high taxes including actor Jackie Chan. The leaks have enabled governments from all over the world to claw back some of the taxes they were losing to countries willing to offer super low taxes for investors. The original papers were handed to a German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, through an anonymous email message. The data dump was too large for them to investigate; so the papers were passed to the International Centre of Investigate Journalists (ICIJ), an organisation similar to South Africa's amaBhungane which was so key in unearthing state capture details. Now the ICIJ has been given data from a Mauritius leak. And the name of Bob Geldof, known for his Live Aid concert to raise money for poverty has popped up. The ICIJ says their efforts have helped governments around the world to recover more than $1.2bn in taxes around the world since 2016. – Linda van Tilburg.An investigation by the International Consortium of Investigate Journalists has revealed that Mauritius has become a destination of choice for those who want to discreetly avoid taxes. An anonymous whistle blower sent a USB stick to the ICIJ containing details of some of the rich who are using Mauritius as a tax haven. Dubbed 'Mauritius Leaks' the journalists uncovered that Bob Geldof, famous for his Live Aid concert to raise money for Africa and a former member of the Boomtown Rats has used Mauritius for his investment firm to "take advantage of obscure international agreements that allow companies to pay rock-bottom rates on the island tax have and less to the desperately poor African nations where the companies do business.".Geldof "who has built his reputation on fighting for poverty" has a United Kingdom private equity firm that buys stakes in African businesses; it includes a chicken firm in Uganda. The ICIJ says Geldof is just one of the rich who is taking advantage of Mauritius as a tax haven. There are 200,000 confidential records from early 1997 to 2017 from law firm Conyers Dill & Pearman, a Bermuda-based offshore law firm with an office in Mauritius on the USB stick. "The investigation reveals how a sophisticated financial system based on the island is designed to divert tax revenue from poor nations back to the coffers of Western corporations and African oligarchs, with Mauritius getting a share." They have also uncovered that an airline flying missions for the United Nations is routing their business through Mauritius..The data does not only show how some super rich individuals channelled their money through Mauritius; it also includes contracts, meeting notes, audio recordings and emails which paints the picture of a busy offshore law firm working with some of the global accounting giants and also for some of the world's largest corporations. Mauritius, which is a holiday destination for many South African has transformed itself from a poor island with an economy based mainly on sugarcane into a jewel of the Indian ocean. It managed to transform itself when the country decided to model itself on Luxembourg, Switzerland, Hong Kong and other more "obscure jurisdictions" that have transformed themselves into financial powerhouses. It has since then marketed itself as a gateway to Africa. Its two main selling points are extra low tax rates and a "battery of tax treaties with 46 mostly poorer countries." Tax Justice Network says what "Mauritius is providing is not a gateway but a getaway car for unscrupulous corporations dodging their tax obligations.".___STEADY_PAYWALL___.The minister responsible for the country's offshore sector Dharmendar Sesungkur described the data released to the ICIJ as "outdated." He said the World Bank and other Breton Wood institutions recognises that "Mauritius is a cooperative and clean jurisdiction that has made significant progress in adhering to international standards." Mauritius has introduced major policy changes and tightened rules which a demand that companies should have reasonable local staffing and must spend money on a real office on the island; it can't be a shell company. Many feel these reforms amount to "box ticking to keep the country off international blacklists.".More and more countries in Africa are starting to speak up about and trying to fight back against the low tax regimes saying it is a "double non-tax system". But the negotiations are drawn out and can take years. Mauritius initially ignored South Africa's request to modify its tax agreement and South Africa only managed to get a new deal in 2015. Lesotho is currently negotiating a review of its treaty with Mauritius that dates to 1997, which Lesotho regrets. Namibia is also trying to review its tax treaty, while Zimbabwe, Tunisia, Senegal, Egypt Uganda and Zambia, Thailand and India said the treaties with Mauritius "were crippling".

Mauritius leaks – how the rich and Bob Geldof pay low taxes

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