WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT THE INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM

As a member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism delivering investigative stories, we would soon begin the publication of uncovered records of secretive companies and bank accounts of some of West Africa’s most powerful politicians and corporate moguls, including a Mali presidential candidate, the mayor of Cote d’Ivoire’s richest city, and a member of the Togolese ruling dynasty inner circle.

Files also reveal details behind the Seychelles company of a longtime friend of Nobel Prize-winning Liberian ex-president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf who helped lobby on behalf of a mining company.

Honorary consuls, including several representing European countries, used offshore companies and accounts to avoid taxes and keep money out of sight from authorities in West Africa.

A Canadian multinational used a letterbox company as a conduit and avoided paying millions of dollars in tax to Senegal, one of the world’s 25 poorest countries, including many in Nigeria.