Bahamas Papers name Mossack Fonseca

FIVE MONTHS after the “Panama Papers” uncovered  the activities of Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca, a new report has been published putting The Bahamas under the microscope.

The new leak of data has been obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and released in conjunction with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

For decades, the opacity with which the Bahamas handled its financial system was precisely the main attraction to establish a company in this Caribbean island.

The leak revealed the identities of the beneficial owners and directors of 175,000 entities registered in the Bahamas.

The new data named Dutch politician  Neelie Kroes, who between 2004 and 2009 was the director of the Competition Commission of the European Union, an entity that was in charge of issues such as the regulation of tax entities.

The data also included information about 539 registered agents working in the jurisdiction, including  Mossack Fonseca,  which  administered 16,000 companies in the Bahamas.

The Bahamas was placed on a black list by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2000 and a grey list in 2009. In both cases, it made regulatory changes to exit the lists.