A private legal practitioner, Ace Ankomah, says persons cited in the Panama Papers scandal as operating foreign accounts have committed no offence.
According to him, owning an account in a tax haven like Panama cannot be deemed criminal unless there is evidence to show the accounts are used for criminal activities.
[contextly_sidebar id=”47fP76LcfzmQjAsZO1SWQ9Y99q4gJCZh”]The sons of ex-President Kufuor and former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, have been named by the Panama Papers in the latest leak of confidential documents.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show however, Ace Ankomah said the two may not have committed any offense.
He explained that “the existence of a tax haven is in itself not wrong.”
According to Ace Ankomah, activities of tax havens have come under intense scrutiny because “it is believed that they are used for all kinds of nefarious activities; money laundering, tax avoidance among others.”
“Do you remember the whole issue about the presidential jet, the company that bought the jet and sold it to Ghana? It is incorporated in a tax haven, there are many of them. Many people doing business, especially those in Africa, will come through a tax haven because when you incorporate your withholding company in a tax haven, you will get some benefits. But of course people also pass money through tax havens to evade or avoid tax or sometimes to wash money which is probably from drug trade or corrupt or criminal activities into clean money so that the money could be used.”
He further noted that “the fact that this revelation has come out is explosive but the question is that, has anything been done that is wrong? Simply using a company in a tax haven in itself is not an offense.”
The Panama Papers is said to be the biggest and latest leak, larger than the US diplomatic cables released by Wiki leaks in 2010 and represents the latest disclosure of confidential documents regarding offshore companies of politicians, their relatives and associates — more than 100 in all.
The eldest son of Ghana’s former President John Agyekum Kufuor, John Addo Kufuor, is said to have controlled a bank account in Panama worth $75,000.
“In early 2001, shortly after the start of his father’s first presidential term, Kufuor appointed Mossack Fonseca to manage The Excel 2000 Trust. Later that year, it controlled a bank account in Panama worth $75,000,” the papers said. The document further revealed that Addo Kufuor’s mother – Theresa Kufuor, then-Ghana’s first lady “was also a beneficiary of that account. “
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By: Godwin A. Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin