Nothing criminal about Paradise Papers – HH
By Staff Reporter
UPND leader Hakainde Hichilema says there is nothing criminal about the Paradise Papers in which he has been named among other world figures in a huge new leak of financial documents that reveal how the powerful and ultra-wealthy secretly invest vast amounts of cash in off-shore tax havens.
And Hichilema said Zambia needed the International Monetary Fund (IMF) bail out package.
The leak, dubbed the Paradise Papers, contains 13.4 million documents, mostly from leading offshore finance firm Appleby, along with corporate registries in 19 tax jurisdictions, which reveal the financial dealings of politicians, celebrities, corporate giants and business leaders.
Featuring on Radio Phoenix’s Let The People Talk programme this morning, the opposition United Party for National Development (UPND) leader said he as not bothered by the revelation it was a clean business transaction.
“People invest in that manner, and I’m glad that they are saying that there was no corruption or criminality involved in that business. That company was incorporated many years ago and there is nothing sinister about it,” said Hichilema.
According to the ICIJ website, Hichilema became a director of a Bermuda company, AfNat Resources Ltd, in March 2006, and he resigned that August, according to Appleby’s records.
AfNat Resources was incorporated in 2005 and explored for nickel and other metals in Zambia and other African countries.
It was listed on London’s alternative investment market until 2010 when it was purchased by Canadian mining company Axmin for about $14 million.
The website further notes that Hichilema declined to answer questions from ICIJ, including about his roles as AfNat Resources director. There is nothing illegal about a company registered in Bermuda, Hichilema allegedly told ICIJ by phone.
As with last year’s Panama Papers leak, the documents were obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, which called in the ICIJ to oversee the investigation.
The vast majority of the transactions involve no legal wrongdoing.
Appleby itself has in the past said Offshore Financial Centres (OFCs) “protect people victimised by crime, corruption, or persecution by shielding them from venal governments”.
Among notable politicians named on the offshore leaks database include US commerce secretary Wilbur Ross, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, former prime ministers of Canada Jean Chretein, Paul Martin and Brian Mulroney, Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, Queen Noor al-Hussain of Jordan, outgoing Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf and Britain’s Queen Elizabeth.
The Paradise Papers show that about £10m ($13m) of Queen Elizabeth’s private money was invested offshore. It was put into funds in the Cayman Islands and Bermuda by the Duchy of Lancaster, which provides the Queen with an income and handles investments for her £500m private estate.
Meanwhile, Hichilema said the country’s economy was on its knees where it did not need to borrow any more.
“Our economy is down due to excessive borrowing by the government. Our friends in government have been borrowing carelessly, but we have literally reached a situation where we can not borrow anymore,” said Hichilema.
