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| Chief Executive Officer of Engineers & Planners Company Limited, Ibrahim Mahama |
According to the leak dubbed “Paradise Papers” and put together by International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), Ibrahim Mahama, had planned to open two different accounts in 2013 with international offshore law firm Appleby, but ended up opening just one.
The report stated that, Ibrahim Mahama, Chief Executive Officer of Engineers and Planners, opened the account in the name of Red Sky Aviation Limited which has a $7 million Bombadier Challenger jet.
“In 2013, representatives of Mahama and his contracting company Engineers and Planners Company Limited contacted Appleby about creating two offshore companies in the Isle of Man but ended up creating only one. That company, Red Sky Aviation Limited, was used to hold a $7 million Bombardier Challenger jet.”
According to the Paradise Papers, Ibrahim Mahama’s companies were ranked by Appleby as “high risk” companies because of the owner’s relationship with former Ghanaian leader, John Mahama.
“The second company was intended for “consulting services in the oil and gas mining infrastructure development, and real estate sectors of the Ghanaian economy.”
Appleby ranked Mahama and his companies as a high risk due to his relationship to the then-president, and allegations in Ghanaian media that government funds were being used to repay the company’s multi-million-dollar bank loan.”
ICIJ in the report however noted that, when Ibrahim Mahama’s company was contacted on the issue, they “denied any wrongdoing.”
“A representative of Engineers & Planners Company Limited declined to respond to specific questions and told ICIJ that there was nothing illegal in the use of offshore companies,” the report added.
Paradise Papers: Tax haven secrets of ultra-rich exposed
The huge new leak of financial documents has revealed how the powerful and ultra-wealthy, including the Queen of England’s private estate, secretly invest vast amounts of cash in offshore tax havens.
America’s President, Donald Trump’s commerce secretary, is shown to have a stake in a firm dealing with Russians sanctioned by the US.
The leak, dubbed the Paradise Papers, contains 13.4m documents, mostly from one leading firm in offshore finance. BBC Panorama is part of nearly 100 media groups investigating the papers.
As with last year’s Panama Papers leak, the documents were obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, which called in the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) to oversee the investigation.
EOCO chases Ibrahim Mahama
Ibrahim Mahama has been hot this year, 2017, after he was ordered in April to pay about GHc12 million by the Economic and Organised Crime Office (EOCO) for duty on goods he cleared with dud cheques in 2015 plus interest.
Panama papers
In 2016, a similar report was released which captured thousands of wealthy people who have hidden their treasures in offshore accounts.
The report named the sons ex-President John Agyekum Kufuor and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, as some Ghanaians who operated such accounts.
They’ve done no wrong
A private legal practitioner, Ace Ankomah, at the time explained that, such persons cited in the operation of foreign accounts, have committed no offence. “The existence of a tax haven is in itself not wrong” but “it is believed that such accounts are used for all kinds of nefarious activities; money laundering, tax avoidance among others,” he added.
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