Panamafrica is the new chapter of the Panama Papers investigation. Stories of bribes, blood diamonds and offshore capital. It is the population that pays the price.
The powerful move capital from one end of the Earth to the other, setting up a babel of offshore companies to exploit regimes where taxation is virtually non-existent. And it is always those who cannot defend themselves who pay the price. This is what is happening in 44 African states, where some profit from oil, gas and precious metals and immediately channel those profits to 1,400 companies located in tax havens. This, summarised in a few lines, is the crux of Panamafrica, the new chapter of the global Panama Papers investigation. It is revealed by the ICIJ (International Consortium of Investigative Journalists) network, of which the weekly L'Espresso is the exclusive Italian member. These are stories that become all the more shocking when one considers that, while a handful of wealthy individuals carve up money and power among themselves, the population continues to live in poverty, stripped of its own resources. It is estimated that every year the African continent sees approximately 50 billion dollars evaporate as a result of illicit financial flows.
A volume of data roughly 1,500 times the size of WikiLeaks. These are the dimensions of Panama Papers, a colossal leak that was announced simultaneously around the world on 3 April last year. A global network of investigative journalists analysed more than 11 million documents stolen from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which created or administered more than 214,000 offshore companies. Among the prominent names found in the files, there are also Italians: from entrepreneur Luca Cordero di Montezemolo to television presenter Barbara D'Urso, as well as sports executive Adriano Galliani and entrepreneur Emanuela Barilla. The full list is on the website of the weekly L'Espresso. The strand that has emerged today focuses on Africa, a land of conquest for unscrupulous businesspeople.
Italian public prosecutors (pm) are also among those investigating the companies at the centre of the Panama Papers. Specifically, they are looking into the 198 million euros in bribes that Farid Bedjaoui discussed with representatives of the Algerian government and Saipem managers, in the luxurious rooms of the Bulgari hotel in Milan. The backhanders were concealed through a labyrinth of 17 offshore companies, 12 of which are traceable directly to the Fonseca firm. Thanks to those bribes, according to the prosecutors, Saipem managed to win contracts for the construction of oil and gas pipelines in North Africa. Saipem has announced its decision to cooperate with the judicial authorities. In the meantime, one of its subsidiaries has been convicted in Algeria, and Bedjaoui has been indicted by the Italian authorities, who believe he inflated the contracts in order to pocket a share of them.
Those browsing the windows of Tiffany, in Milan or New York, may not realise that many of the diamonds come from Sierra Leone. More precisely, from the city of Koidu, where Koidu Limited is based, one of the most prominent clients of the Fonseca law firm and a central figure in the Panama Papers. Tracing the merry-go-round of offshore companies leads to Israeli billionaire Ben Steinmetz, together with his family. BSG Resources also falls under Steinmetz, and is the subject of an investigation into alleged bribes in Guinea.
Koidu Limited states that it has always invested for the well-being of the local area. To hear the local community tell it, things appear to be quite different: following the bloody protests of 2007 and 2012, in 2015 the city of Koidu took the company to court, accusing it of having failed to pay certain local taxes. A few months later, the mayor Saa Emmerson Lamina, who had always stood against Koidu Limited, was suspended from his post, in a move that was widely contested.