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When the news about the now popular Panama Papers broke, the names of only two Ghanaians were listed.
But today when the ICIJ published a searchable database of the leaked documents, the Government of Ghana is listed in as a shareholder in a shell company, which is listed as active.
The government has shares in a company called Gold Coast Resorts International Limited. The company, registered in the British Virgin Islands was incorporated on April 19, 2006, and linked to the UK.
The following is the address of the company, Claire Le Muellic Ground Floor 2, Kensington Square London W8 5EP.
There are, however, no details of the shares held by the government.
The Ghana Tourist Board, now known as the Ghana Tourism Authority is also linked to the shell company.
When news about the trove of 11.5 million leaked internal documents, about 2.6TB of data, from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, broke, showing how hundreds of thousands of people are using anonymous shell companies across the world to hide their money, the Prime Minister of Iceland, Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson resigned when the documents showed that he and the wife ran a secret company. He was accused of failing to make his joint ownership of the company public.
A member of FIFA’s ethics committee, Juan Pedro Damiani also resigned when the documents show alleged links between him and his compatriot Eugenio Figueredo, the former Fifa vice-president who was arrested last year on corruption charges by the United States Department of Justice.
UK Prime Minister, David Cameron has come under criticisms since the leaked papers showed he had an interest in his late father’s offshore investment fund.
