Macri and de la Rúa families among the Argentines found offshoring in recent Bahamas Leaks. [View all]

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A fresh batch of documents leaked from the corporate registry of the Bahamas has revealed offshore shell companies with links to Antonio and Fernando de la Rúa — sons of former Argentine President Fernando de la Rúa — and to the family of current President Mauricio Macri.

The roughly 1.3 million documents, first obtained by the Süddeutsche Zeitung and published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and its media partners, has uncovered a new offshoring scandal known as the “Bahamas Leaks.” This leak includes documentation from 1990 to 2016, and is the largest such scandal since the 11.5 million document “Panama Papers” leak revealed on April 3.

According to a report, the Macri family’s Grupo Socma holding invested $10 million in capital into ViajeYa.com, an online tourism booking service, in April, 2000. Socma reportedly had a minority stake in the company - about 10% - and the investment was said to have been channeled through the Cayman Islands. Socma reportedly sold its stake in 2001, and the firm closed in 2004.

At the time Mauricio Macri, who had recently launched his political career, was no longer a Socma director; but had shares in the holding.

The conservative daily La Nación indicated that the Macri family had previously declared the investment to Argentine tax authorities. Participating in offshore firms is not illegal in and of itself if it is duly reported. It nonetheless raises questions about possible tax evasion.

The ViajeYa.com revelations were preceded days ago by revelations that the Macris used a cutout - Uruguayan accountant Santiago Lussich Torrendell - to manage at least one Bahamas firm: Karter Properties, founded in 1999. No one in the Macri family is directly named in the company directory for Karter, possibly a reason why its name did not surface initially.

The Macris have been linked, by way of the Panama Papers and Open Corporates leaks, to over a dozen offshore firms in numerous tax havens. Many of these were opened at the elder Macri's behest by disgraced Panamanian corporate law firm Mossack Fonseca.

Other offshore shell companies linked to Macri include Fleg Trading, Kagemusha, Foxchase Trading, and the Danae Alliance Company, as well as a Merrill Lynch investment account.

Federal investigations

Federal Judge Sebastián Casanello has requested that the Anti-Corruption Office (OA) and the City of Buenos Aires analyze Macri’s sworn statements from 2013 to 2015 part of an investigation to determine if the then-mayor “maliciously omitted” this information from his financial disclosure statements.

Prosecutor Federico Delgado had requested on June 8 that a review of the statements be conducted by experts from the University of Buenos Aires (UBA); but Casanello instead entrusted the reviews to the OA and officials under Buenos Aires Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta. This was controversial because both the OA director, Laura Alonso, and Mayor Rodríguez Larreta are Macri loyalists.

de la Rúa implicated

Yesterday's Bahama Leaks also revealed that former President Fernando de la Rúa's sons, Antonio and Fernando, were listed as principals in two Bahamas offshore firms: Furia Investments Holdings Inc and Bonds Cay Development Bahamas, which were opened in 2006.

Speaking to Suddeütsche Zeitung, the former president claimed to have no knowledge of his sons’ business interests; but admitted knowing that his son Antonio and Colombian pop star Shakira had lived in the Bahamas as a couple and had business ventures on the island. He maintains that paperwork for the companies had been duly filed with Argentine tax authorities.

De la Rúa, 79, served as President of Argentina from 1999 to 2001, and is best remembered for presiding over the most severe socio-economic crisis in the country since the 1890 Baring Brothers panic. He has been a vocal supporter of President Macri, a fellow right-winger.

At: http://buenosairesherald.com/article/221907/families-of-macri-de-la-r%C3%BAa-named-in-new-leaks