There are an estimated 23 private customers and 34 named beneficiaries caught up in the Panama Papers exposé alongside 244 businesses and 255 shareholders.
Buried among the 11.5 million documents that were released on Sunday evening are details of Portuguese clients of the law firm Mossack Fonseca who are are involved in offshore companies.
Portugal’s Public Prosecutor "is following" these cases as the revelations in the so-called Panama Papers may have saved Portuguese investigators years of work.
Tax evasion, money laundering, concealment of financial transactions and use of tax havens to ensure the anonymity of transactions all are under the newly polished spotlight.
The money involved in many of Portugal’s current high profile cases, Furacão and Monte Branco to name but two, ends up in offshore accounts and the job now is to trace transactions and find out who benefitted.
Bribery payments in the Paulo Portas’ submarine case involving German manufacturer Ferrostaal was paid offshore through BES but the trail for Portugal’s prosecutors went cold when overseas authorities refused to play ball and the answer came back that the bribe money went to ‘an account in the name of BES Directors.’
The Panama Papers refer to 244 companies based in Portugal with 255 shareholders listed as being linked to Portugal.
The Prosecutor "is following" these case and promises to act to establish any facts which reveal those involved in criminal activity and tax evasion.
When the crisis started there was a large outflow of funds from Portugal's wealthy to offshore accounts and companies; nothing illegal there as long as the owners declare income and interest received on their annual tax returns.
