According to FCN reports, the scandals involving Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his coup government are far from over. While the file on economic violations by Baktash Zanjani and his associates in various countries has not yet reached a final conclusion, news has emerged that Ahmadinejad’s name also appears in the “Panama Papers” file. These documents relate to the activities of companies that help wealthy individuals from around the world to store their money in other countries to avoid paying taxes.
According to international reports, the collaboration of one hundred news organizations and nearly 400 journalists from 80 different countries has resulted in the exposure of millions of confidential documents. Documents concerning the activities of a law firm based in Panama, which helped its clients hide their assets or, in fact, launder money.
At least politicians and officials from 11 countries, such as Iran, Argentina, Iceland, Switzerland, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Russia, Guinea, Germany, Syria, and China, played a role in this money laundering network. According to the German newspaper “Süddeutsche Zeitung,” the documents contain the names of individuals and companies that conducted business transactions with the Islamic Republic despite extensive sanctions by the United States and the European Union against Iran. Some of these individuals were on the international sanctions list, but conducted transactions through dummy and fake companies.
According to Deutsche Welle’s report, most of these transactions were related to oil contracts. Most of the Iranian companies mentioned in these documents belonged to the Iranian government. Süddeutsche Zeitung writes that one of the officials at the “Mossack Fonseca” company inquired about the actual owners of Iranian companies, and eventually one of his colleagues in London stated that the owner of these companies was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The names of individuals who conducted transactions with sanctioned countries such as North Korea, Russia, Syria, and Zimbabwe also appear in these documents.
In addition to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s name, documents revealing the money laundering of politicians such as Petro Poroshenko, President of Ukraine, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, Prime Minister of Iceland, King Salman of Saudi Arabia, and Nawaz Sharif, Prime Minister of Pakistan, along with his children (two sons and one daughter), have been exposed.
Among the names exposed from this company’s documents, one can mention Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, Pavlo Lazarenko, former Prime Minister of Ukraine, Lionel Messi, a football player, and Petro Poroshenko, current President of Ukraine.
This group of investigative journalists, known as the “ICIJ” (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists), says it reviewed emails spanning more than 40 years and the details of passports of many individuals to obtain this information.
The “ICIJ” group, a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, has released its findings in a report called the “Panama Papers.”
According to the German newspaper “Süddeutsche Zeitung,” these documents, which have become known as the “Panama Papers,” trace the money laundering of prominent individuals from the 1970s to spring 2016. Since obtaining these documents, the newspaper has shared the information with one hundred news organizations and nearly 400 journalists from 80 different countries around the world.
Some of these individuals include prominent dictators. The information includes details of companies belonging to the families of former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, Muammar Gaddafi, former dictator of Libya, and Bashar al-Assad, the current President of Syria.
According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the report also reveals the money laundering of billions of dollars by a Russian bank affiliated with Vladimir Putin, President of Russia.
The “ICIJ” group says it has discovered a network of associates of Vladimir Putin involved in the laundering of more than two billion dollars. Those behind this investigative report said they had requested the Russian government to declare its position regarding their findings but were met with a negative response from the Kremlin.
Nevertheless, “Dmitry Peskov,” the Kremlin spokesman, accused journalists of attempting to, according to him, tarnish Vladimir Putin’s image.
In another section of these documents, companies with similar activities are mentioned that are managed by the Prime Ministers of Iceland and Pakistan, the children of the President of Azerbaijan, the King of Saudi Arabia, and several other international figures.
This report has so far been published by several news organizations in various languages.
According to Radio Farda’s report, Edward Snowden, who in 2013 exposed the secrets of the U.S. National Security Agency regarding wiretapping of American citizens and has been living in Russia since then, tweeted on Sunday that this leak, which concerns financial corruption, is considered the largest disclosure in the history of investigative journalism.
According to The Guardian newspaper, the names of politicians such as Iyad Allawi, former Interior Minister of Iraq, Alaa Mubarak, son of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, eight former members of the Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China, six members of the British House of Lords, and several associates of Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, are also seen.
Based on investigations conducted by the international journalist network, the “Mossack Fonseca” company, which has its headquarters in Panama, enabled its clients to launder money by creating dummy and fake companies. None of the officials of Mossack Fonseca were willing to speak with journalists. Only the Mossack Fonseca company issued a brief statement saying that “all activities of this company were conducted within the framework of the law.” The company was founded in 1977 by Jürgen Mossack (a German immigrant) and Ramón Fonseca in Panama. The company’s activities are based on complete protection of its clients and refraining from disclosing their identities.
The number of documents obtained amounted to approximately 11.5 million pages, revealing information about more than 215,000 dummy and fake companies. Initial reviews of these documents show that approximately 140 prominent politicians and officials from around the world are under suspicion of money laundering. Among them, the names of 12 presidents or prime ministers of countries around the world are seen, although some of them currently do not hold government positions.
Source: Kaleme
