Panama Papers database
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), as scheduled, published this week a database of the names of thousands of international companies and their directors that were contained in the so-called Panama Papers.
One of the companies was Programmes for Wealth International (PWi), which deVere & Partners bought for legitimate business growth reasons back in 2004.
As I said at the time to International Adviser magazine: “The acquisition of Programmes for Wealth International enables us to increase our distribution channels as we remain on target to achieve our strategic expansion of servicing 100,000 clients worldwide.”
The firm was a British Virgin Islands company held on a Panama server. All completely above all and bona fide.
But isn’t it ludicrous how following the leak of the Panama Papers, how everything Panama-related could now be seen in a negative light? Some perspective is needed.
As is so often the case these days, following the Panama Papers story, I was called on by many global media outlets, such as the BBC, The Guardian, Forbes and City AM to give my opinion and share my experience of the international financial services industry.