The Guardian published an article about the connection between Georgian Prime Minister Bidzina ivanishvili and secret British offshore companies.
“The prime minister of Georgia heads a list of fresh names that emerged on Thursday as owners of secret offshore companies in the British Virgin Islands.
A senior Lib Dem politician said the secret haven of the BVI "stains the face of Britain", while anti-corruption campaigners called for action from the British prime minister, David Cameron.
The latest cluster of names to emerge from the huge leak of BVI financial data include Bidzina Ivanishvili, the prime minister of the Caucasus nation since last year, and prominent figures in Pakistan, India, Thailand and Indonesia. They also include a Briton, Neil Gaitely, nominally a director of a company reported to be a front for the Iranian regime.
Lord Oakeshott, the Lib Dem peer and a former Treasury spokesman, said: "How can David Cameron keep a straight face calling for the G8 to make big business pay tax when we let the BVI use British law and British protection to suck in billions in dirty money?"
The names of thousands of owners of secret offshore companies are currently being revealed by the Washington-based ICIJ, a journalists' group, in collaboration with the Guardian and other international media. This follows the leak to ICIJ of a hard drive containing 200GB of internal files of offshore incorporation agencies in the BVI, Singapore and the Cook Islands.
Robert Palmer of the campaign group Global Witness repeated the call for Cameron to take action. He said: "The time to deal with this issue is now. Given that he has pledged to tackle these secretive shell companies at this year's G8 summit in Northern Ireland, he and his fellow leaders must commit to publishing information on the people who ultimately control and own companies."
The Guardian names Bidzina Ivanishvil’s offshore company: Bosherston Overseas Corp
The article reads that Ivanishvili, a billionaire businessman, became prime minister of Georgia in 2012. Listed from 2006-9 as director of the BVI company, administered via an agent in Panama, incorporated in 2006 and still active.
The author also gives the comment of Ivanishvil’s spokesman , that he has done everything according to law: "For the reporting period of 2011-12, Prime Minister Ivanishvili had no interest in the company … and therefore there was no obligation to report it in his [financial] declaration."