Hong Kong was busiest office of Panama Papers law firm
The Hong Kong branch of Mossack Fonseca is the busiest for the Panamanian law firm that specialises in setting up offshore bank accounts
Nearly a third of the business of Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers scandal, came from its offices in Hong Kong and mainland China, reports say – making the Asian giant its biggest market.
Shell companies incorporated through the Hong Kong and the mainland offices of the Panamanian law firm accounted for 29 per cent of its active companies worldwide, said the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which co-ordinated a year-long investigation of the 11.5 million leaked documents.
The latest release of the investigation of the law firm’s leaked documents, which has already implicated 140 leading politicians, businessmen and institutions around the world in recent days, have so far found relatives of at least eight current or former members of China’s Politburo Standing Committee, the ruling Communist Party’s most senior decision-making body, have used offshore companies.
The newly revealed include a daughter-in-law of the Communist Party’s current chief of ideology, Liu Yunshan ( 劉雲山 ), and a son-in-law of first-ranking Vice-Premier Zhang Gaoli (張高麗).