Vietnamese names in Paradise Papers to undergo tax inspection
Thursday, November 23, 2017, 14:45 GMT+7
Following the publication of the “Paradise Papers,” a trove of leaked documents detailing offshore investments, Vietnam’s tax authority plans to begin its review of implicated Vietnamese entities and individuals to identify those with any tax responsibilities at home.
The Paradise Papers is a special investigation initiated by The Guardian and 95 media partners worldwide into a leak of 13.4 million files from two offshore service providers and 19 tax havens’ company registries.
Close to 25,000 entities connected to the Paradise Papers investigation have been added to the Offshore Leaks Database, a platform run by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) that also includes data from the similar Panama Papers leak in 2015.
As the Offshore Leaks Database is searchable, countries are easily able to search if any citizens or registered businesses are linked to the Paradise Papers.
A keyword search of “Vietnam” on the database by Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper showed 13 entities and 25 individuals, registered at 20 addresses.
One company, Vietnam Capital Discovery Limited, and five officers are found to be registered under the same address on the list. The registered officers are Quang-Luu, Quang Hien-Vu, Khanh-Luu, Cong Giang-Bui and Nguyen-Louis T.
Nguyen-Louis T is the chairman and CEO of the Saigon Asset Management, whereas Cong Giang-Bui, Quang-Luu and Khanh-Luu are the company’s officials.
Other familiar names on the list include Don Lam, CEO of VinaCapital and Dominic Scriven, CEO of Dragon Capital.
Another VinaCapital officer, Colin Taylor Brook, and Dragon Capital officer John Shrimpton, as well as Indochina Capital officers Brian Quan Pham and Peter Raymond Ryder also appear in the search results.
Reviewing process
On Wednesday, Nguyen Dai Tri, deputy head of Vietnam’s General Department of Taxation, said his agency has been briefed on the information that several names linked to Vietnam appear in the Paradise Papers and his agency plans to review information relevant to those entities and individuals.
Tax authorities will compare their data with the Offshore Leaks Database to see if these ‘leaked’ names are responsible for paying taxes in Vietnam, Tri said.
A DragonCapital representative told Tuoi Tre that being named in the Paradise Papers does not necessarily imply wrongdoing by an entity or individual.
“Funds under our management follow the tax regulations of the jurisdictions where they are established,” the representative said.
The ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database also stated in a ‘disclaimer’ on its website that there are legitimate uses for offshore companies and trusts.
“We do not intend to suggest or imply that any people, companies or other entities included [here] have broken the law or otherwise acted improperly,” it said.
As many people and entities have the same or similar names, the ICIJ suggests confirmation based on addresses or other identifiable information be made with regard to the identities of any individuals or entities appearing in the database.
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The Paradise Papers investigation exposed the offshore deals of political players and corporate giants. The leaks were obtained by German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared with ICIJ and a network of more than 380 journalists in 67 countries. The new records come from the offshore law firm Appleby and cover a period of more than six decades, through to 2014, of entities registered in more than 30 offshore jurisdictions. It includes information from shareholders, directors, and other officers connected to offshore companies, foundations, and trusts. It also reveals the names of the real owners behind those secret structures, when available. The Offshore Leaks Database includes information from close to 500,000 additional offshore entities linked to ICIJ’s 2016 Panama Papers and Bahamas Leaks probes, as well as its 2013 Offshore Leaks investigation. The data covers nearly 70 years up to early 2016 and links to people and companies in more than 200 countries and territories. |
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