Rise Project: Romania appears in the new Panama Papers

Romania’s Rosia Montana gold mining project and the controversial privatizations of the Rafo refinery and Alro aluminum producer are mentioned in the Panama Papers, the largest cross-border journalism collaboration ever, according to Romanian independent journalism website Rise Project, which has been collaborating to this international investigation. The investigation is based on 11.5 million records leaked from Mossack Fonseca, a global law firm based in Panama. The documents contain details on more than 214,000 offshore entities used by billionaires, sports stars, politicians and world leaders, as well as drug lords, to launder or hide their money. “The Mossack Fonseca database shows, among others, who was the unknown billionaire who controlled the Rafo Onesti refinery and his connection to the Rosia Montana gold project. Vasile Frank Timis, the initiator of the Rosia Montana business, also worked with the lawyers from Panama City to start his businesses in Romania in the mid-90s,” Rise Project wrote. Romania was also mentioned in the Swiss Leaks tax dodging investigation last year. Several local politicians and businessmen were found to have had accounts opened at HSBC Switzerland. A total of 219 of the over 100,000 HSBC clients whose account details were leaked had ties to Romania. Swiss Leaks tax dodging scandal reveals Romanian politician’s secret accounts Swiss Leaks on tax dodging: Over 200 HSBC clients connected to Romania, the largest account was USD 800 mln Who is the Romanian with USD 800 mln in a secret Swiss account? editor@romania-insider.com