Panama Papers: federal judge writes to Panama/Bahamas authorities for information about Argentinian president

In Buenos Aires, Federal Judge Sebastián Casanello has sent formal requests to the judicial authorities in the Bahamas and Panama, asking for their cooperation with an investigation into any ties with offshore companies which Mauricio Macri, the president of Argentina, may have. Read about it here.

The Panama Papers revealed that Macri was registered as a shareholder of Fleg Trading Ltd, an offshore company, together with his brother Mariano and their father, Franco, who was the company’s managing director.

When he was elected mayor of Buenos Aires City in 2007, Macri did not declare his shareholding in this company in the sworn affidavits on assets and holdings that he was obliged to submit on taking office. He says he ceased to hold shares in the company in 2009.

When his involvement in the company was revealed by the Panama Papers last month, the Argentinian president said that he had not included the company in his list of assets because he never received dividends.

Government officials have argued that the company is owned by Macri’s father, who declared it in his previous tax declarations, and Macri never had any active involvement nor received funds from it, so he did not have to declare it. Which begs the question, of course, as to why he didn’t do so anyway, if all was above board.

In fact, Macri has since been accused of deliberately omitting information about his assets in sworn affidavits when he took office as mayor of Buenos Aires City, and the prosecutor leading the case against him says that the president may have committed a crime (which is why he is being prosecuted).

And they say Argentina is a corrupt country.

Mauricio Macri, president of Argentina