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The Panama papers show that many in the wealthy elite have no problem not only hiding their wealth but also no problem with doing business with companies that helps dictators staying in power.
Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca serviced Assad cousin's firms despite Syria corruption fears | News | The Guardian
More about Mossack Fonseca dealing with dictators.
Sanctions: key questions answered | News | The Guardian
That by hiding their wealth rich people also support operations that can be used by dictators, organized crime and terrorists.
The firm at the centre of the Panama Papers leak serviced a string of companies for a top financier in Bashar al-Assad’s government in the face of international concern about corruption within the Syrian regime.
Documents show Mossack Fonseca’s links to Rami Makhlouf, a cousin of the Syrian president, who was described in US diplomatic cables as the country’s “poster boy for corruption”.
Washington sanctioned Makhlouf in February 2008 as a regime insider who “improperly benefits from and aids the public corruption of Syrian regime officials”. It blacklisted his brother Hafez Makhlouf in 2007.
The documents show, however, that the Panamanian firm continued to work with the Makhloufs, and in January 2011 it rejected the advice of its own compliance team to cut ties with the family as the crisis in Syria began to unfold.
Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca serviced Assad cousin's firms despite Syria corruption fears | News | The Guardian
More about Mossack Fonseca dealing with dictators.
There is evidence in the Panama Papers that at least 22 individuals placed on sanctions blacklists by the US and the EU were connected to companies on the books of Mossack Fonseca, either as shareholders, directors or beneficiaries. At least 17 of these individuals had sanctions imposed while Mossack Fonseca was acting for their companies. Some 24 companies named in sanctions lists are also found in the files.
Sanctions: key questions answered | News | The Guardian
That by hiding their wealth rich people also support operations that can be used by dictators, organized crime and terrorists.