Monday, April 8, 2013

Offshore secrets: how many companies do 'sham directors' control?

The Guardian/ICIJ offshore investigation has identified 'nominee' directors controlling thousands of companies across the world. But just how many are there?
Charlestown, Nevis
Charlestown on Nevis, one of the far-flung towns used as a base by so-called "nominee directors". Photograph: Sergio Pitamitz/Corbis
The Guardian and the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists have been investigating the offshore industry and secrecy surrounding it, uncovering a network of individuals willing to appear on official records as directors of companies while acting only on the instructions of its real owners, who stay invisible and off-the-books.
The main story from Monday's Guardian sets out the position:
More than 21,500 companies have been identified using this group of 28 so-called nominee directors. The nominees play a key role in keeping secret hundreds of thousands of commercial transactions. They do so by selling their names for use on official company documents, using addresses in obscure locations all over the world.
This is not illegal under UK law, and sometimes nominee directors have a legitimate role. But our evidence suggests this particular group of directors only pretend to control the companies they put their names to.

The companies themselves are often registered anonymously offshore in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), but also in Ireland, New Zealand, Belize and the UK itself. More than a score of UK agencies sell offshore companies, several of whom also help supply sham directors.
The directors first came to light as a result of the Guardian's investigations into the British Virgin Islands, and it is not possible to get the company lists or totals published below using the official records made publicly available.
Having obtained for the first time total company counts for dozens of individuals, the Guardian then cross-checked the same names at other registries around the world (UK, Ireland and New Zealand) to examine the international nature of these activities.
It is possible some or all of the individuals named below have more companies in further countries, which do not make interfaces available to find directors' companies.
We've published the full table below, showing total numbers of current and former companies across four countries for 28 individuals acting as nominee directors.
If you've got any comments or thoughts on their activities, leave a comment on our main news story today, or (if you'd prefer to comment confidentially), email me at james.ball@guardian.co.uk.

Nominee directors

Director
Country of operation
BVI companies
UK companies
Irish Companies
New Zealand companies
Total
Alastair Matthew Cunningham Cyprus 33 765 230 11 1,039
Andrew Moray-Stuart Mauritius 214 36 43 4 297
Brenda Patricia Cocksedge Mauritius 132 522 50 5 709
Christina Van Den Berg Mauritius 18 360 7 4 389
Colin Peter Bradford UK 44 11 - - 55
Damian Calderbank Dubai 229 430 44 5 708
David Bird Cyprus 16 32 45 - 93
Edward George Frank Cocks UK 190 - - - 190
Edward Petre-Mears Nevis 150 795 65 16 1,026
Elizabeth Fox Dubai 71 28 10 3 112
Geoffrey Taylor Vanuatu 142 37 - - 179
Ian Taylor Vanuatu 149 405 - - 554
James Grassick Sark 9 679 3,508 - 4,196
Jason Hughes Cyprus 64 144 2 - 210
Jesse Hester Mauritius 201 776 528 4 1,509
John Wortley-Hunt Dubai 256 364 29 3 652
Joseph Sparks UK 282 - - - 282
Kellee France Nevis 70 129 1 - 200
Kim Pusey UK - 67 - - 67
Marea Jean O'Toole Mauritius 37 152 10 3 202
Matthew Charles Stokes Dubai 332 668 248 8 1,256
Nicholas Henry Thom Mauritius - 70 3 2 75
Philip Croshaw Sark 50 6 3,986 1 4,043
Sarah Petre-Mears Nevis 221 963 62 5 1,251
Sean Hogan Cyprus 95 743 11 15 864
Shane Michael Smith Cyprus 5 121 18 - 144
Stanley Williams Nevis 131 190 1 - 322
Stephen Kelly Mauritius 377 493 36 24 930
Total   3,518 8,986 8,937 113 21,554
.http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/datablog/2012/nov/26/offshore-secrets-companies-sham-directors

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