Paradise Papers: Tax screws tightened on Mauritius
Dubious deals of Swiss-Angolan financier are among the secret records leaked from elite law firm’s office
Jean-Claude Bastos de Morais was trying to invest offshore but was battling to find a place in which to put his money. The Swiss-Angolan financier turned to Appleby, an elite law firm with offices in tax havens around the globe. In 2011 Bastos tried Appleby’s office on the island of Jersey, a popular offshore financial centre. But its employees balked at his request to set up a shell company without being told why it was needed or what assets it would hold. Appleby’s lawyers were concerned about the possibility that the shell company would own a shipping port in corruption-prone Angola. Bastos, who runs asset-management firm Quantum Global Group, tried Appleby’s office on the Isle of Man. It decided that Appleby would require a seat on the offshore company’s board of directors to supervise what they described as his high-risk business. The arrangement did not go ahead. Finally, in 2013, after Angola’s sovereign wealth fund entrusted Bastos with $5bn, he turned to another Appleby out...
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