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Profiles of leading secret account holders

This article is more than 10 years old
Leading figures across the globe with secret overseas entities

Mongolia

Name: Bayartsogt Sangajav

Offshore company:
Legend Plus Capital Limited

Bayartsogt Sangajav
Bayartsogt Sangajav. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

One of Mongolia's most senior politicians says he is considering resigning from office after being confronted with evidence of his offshore entity and secret Swiss bank account.

"I shouldn't have opened that account. I should have included the company in my declarations," Bayartsogt Sangajav told the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). "I don't worry about my reputation. I worry about my family. I probably should consider resigning from my position."

Bayartsogt, who says his account at one point contained more than $1 million, became his country's finance minister in September 2008, a position he held until a cabinet reshuffle in August 2012. He is now the deputy speaker of Parliament.

During those years he attended international meetings and served as governor of the Asian Development Bank and the European Bank of Reconstruction, pushing the case for his poor nation to receive foreign development assistance and investment.

Canada

Name: Tony Merchant

Offshore Company:
Merchant (2000) US Inc Trust

Tony Merchant
Tony Merchant

Colourful lawyer and former politician, married to Liberal party senator Pana Merchant. Known for challenges to the Canadian revenue agency over his tax payments . He has also been disciplined by the Law Society for "conduct unbecoming ." In 1998, launched Cook Islands trust with deposit of more than US$800,000 as settlor and initially as beneficiary. Sent fee payments in cash envelopes: the agents noted "All communications regarding this trust is to be kept to a minimum…Do not ever send faxes cos he will have a stroke about it"

Comment: Declines to comment

France

Name: Jean-Jacques Augier

Offshore company:
International Bookstores Ltd [IBL]

Jean-Jacques Augier
Jean-Jacques Augier. Photograph: Frederic Souloy/Gamma-Rapho

Publisher and Sinologist. Campaign treasurer of François Hollande for the 2012 presidential elections. They studied together at the prestigious National School of Management (ENA). Chief Executive of Eurane SA. Made large publishing investment in China 2005. Caymans-registered entity IBL, set up with 25% shareholding granted to BVI company Sinolinks Transworld Investment Consultancy, and 2.5% shareholding to a Hong Kong entity Capital Concord Developments Ltd.

Comment: He says partner in the offshore firm was Xi Shu, a businessman and a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, a political advisory body.

Russia

Name: Olga Shuvalova
Offshore companies: Plato Management & other BVI companies owned by Severin Enterprises Inc

Wife of Igor Shuvalov, a businessman and politician close to Putin , first deputy prime minister since 2008. In 2007, she is recorded as owning Severin Enterprises , set up via Moscow agency Amond & Smith. The dealings of another of its subsidiaries, Bahamas-registered Sevenkey Ltd, were detailed in a 2011 investigative article in Barron's, which tied the company to her husband, who has denied wrongdoing.

Comment: declines to comment

US

Name: Denise Rich
Offshore company: The Dry Trust

Denise Rich
Denise Rich. Photograph: Steve Mack/Getty Images

Among nearly 4,000 American names is Denise Rich, a songwriter whose ex-husband, the oil trader Marc Rich, was pardoned by President Clinton as he left office in 2001, over tax evasion and racketeering charges. A Congressional investigation found that Rich, who raised millions of dollars for Democratic politicians, helped promote the pardon. She had $144 million in April 2006 in the trust in the Cook Islands plus a yacht called the Lady Joy, where Rich often entertained celebrities and raised money for charity.

Comment: Rich, who gave up her U.S. citizenship in 2011 and now maintains citizenship in Austria, did not reply to questions about her offshore trust

Azerbaijan

Name: President Ilham Aliyev and family

Offshore Companies:
Arbor Investments; LaBelleza Holdings; Harvard Management; Rosamund International

Ilham Aliyev
Ilham Aliyev. Photograph: Bloomberg/Getty Images

Three BVI entities set up in 2008 in the names of the president's daughters, Arzu and Leyla,. They list as a director wealthy local businessman, Hassan Gozal. His construction company has won major contracts in Azerbaijan. Another BVI entity set up in 2003, lists the president and his wife Mehriban as owners.

Comment: Those involved decline to comment

Spain


Name:
Baroness Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza
Offshore Companies: Sargasso Trustees Ltd (1996-2004) and Nautilus Ltd (1994), both registered in the Cook Is. Her son, Borja, also has some of the shares

Baroness Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza
Baroness Carmen Thyssen-Bornemisza. Photograph: Europa Press/Getty Images

Former beauty queen, Spanish-based art collector and widow of a billionaire Thyssen steel heir, she used the offshore vehicles to buy art, including Van Gogh's "Watermill at Gennep" from Sotheby and Christies in London.

Her lawyer acknowledged that she gains tax benefits by holding ownership of her art offshore, but stressed that she primarily seeks "maximum flexibility" to move art from country to country

Comment: Her lawyer acknowledged tax benefits from owning art offshore, but stressed that she primarily seeks "maximum flexibility" to move art from country to country

Philippines

Name: Maria Imelda Marcos Manotoc
Offshore company: Sintra Trust [BVI]

Maria Imelda Marcos Manotoc
Maria Imelda Marcos Manotoc. Photograph: Pat Roque/AP

Late president Marcos' eldest daughter, now a provincial governor, is listed in 2005 in the BVI as the "investment advisor" and beneficiary of the Sintra Trust, set up by her associate, businessman Mark Chua of Singapore. She does not mention the trust in her Philippines declarations of financial interests

Comment: She declined to answer a series of questions from local journalists about the trust

It is not suggested that any of those listed here have behaved unlawfully. Offshore entities can be held legitimately: the only aspect those listed below have in common is that they have used a jurisdiction which provides them with secrecy. This list is compiled from ICIJ data in the interests of accountability and transparency: any inaccuracies will be corrected promptly if brought to our attention.

This article was amended on 4 April 2013 to remove a picture wrongly said to show Olga Shuvalova, the wife of Igor Shuvalov. The woman pictured was in fact an actor with the same name.

More on this story

More on this story

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  • PM of Georgia among owners of secret firms in British Virgin Islands

  • François Hollande campaign treasurer invested in offshore businesses

  • Jailed property man hid his assets in offshore network during divorce

  • The extraordinary range of people using offshore hideaways

  • Offshore secrets: unravelling a complex package of data

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