This post is more of a report on tracing company directors that stem from the Taylor operation highlighted in the previous post. Here we find intermediaries based in Cyprus that are also in the Panama Papers; clients based in the Ukraine, that aren’t mentioned in the Panama Papers; and a whole swag of South African company directors, who also have alternative addresses in the likes of Mauritius, but are mostly domiciled in the United Kingdom. And, Hartbeespoort people who also have some New Zealand links.

Firstly, the patriarch, Geoffrey Taylor, does get a mention in the Panama Papers, and is linked to a Cypriot or two. Taylor was a shareholder from May 2014 in Sutech Ltd, a company registered in the Seychelles from 2000, and with Mossack Fonseca (Samoa) as the intermediary. He is also the beneficiary of Vernon Directors Ltd, a British Virgin Islands company registered in 2003 along with Loizos Christoforou Loizou of Nicosia, Cyprus. Mr Loizou also appears once in the New Zealand companies register, as the director of K.L.S. International Finance Ltd, along with Neoklis Antoniou of Larnaka. K.L.S. was set up in Christchurch in 2008, and it is notable for the shareholding companies. These have included: Dream Mountain Ltd and My Enmar Property Ltd of Nicosia; and Klitos The First Pyla Monarch Ltd, based in Larnaka. Klitos is still a shareholder, although the company was removed in 2015, and then reinstated in early 2016, and is now based in Auckland. The major shareholder is now Burmese Bull Holdings Ltd of Nicosia.

Mr Loizou has been a more regular director based in London, along with other Cypriots like Irina Pilava and Ntemis Ioannou. But Loizou and Ioannou now appear to have resigned their directorships, including in Total Power Investment Ltd, a company now owned by Christo Mathys Britz, one of the South African contingent, from the town of Brits. Britz has one entry in the ICIJ database, which links to two companies, Liberty Sunshine Ltd and Solar Future Ltd, both registered in the Seychelles. In Liberty Sunshine Ltd, Mr Britz succeeded Nesita Manceau as director, who was based in Vanuatu with the Taylors. And in Solar Future, Britz succeeded Nicholas Henry Thom as the shareholder.

Nicholas Henry Thom appears in the British company register many times, and was involved in six New Zealand companies. Of the British companies, for Weissman Advisory Ltd he actually appears to have succeeded Priscila Lustre Taylor as director in early 2012, that being Geoffrey’s wife. Mr Thom gave a Mauritius address for that company, but for his New Zealand companies he had a South Africa address, certainly for the one set up by Angelique Lilley from Nelson, Agrovita Shipping and Trading Ltd. Agrovita’s shareholder was another Taylor associate, Leah Tourelo of Vanuatu, but the company was removed in late 2014. There is also an Agrovita Shipping and Trading Ltd registered in Britain, though it appears to be in danger of being struck off. It is run by Diederick Petrus Naude, who is described as an instrumentation specialist. But Mr Naude appears four times in the Panama Papers, and once in the Bahamas Leaks, and is linked to many offshore companies along with other more well known nominee directors.

Nicholas Henry Thom appears numerous times in the ICIJ database, with addresses in Belize and Mauritius, and is directly involved in at least 14 companies registered in the Seychelles. Most of these entries also include other shareholders labelled as ‘bearer’, and therefore anonymous, with the exception of Ivaco Consultants Ltd. Ivaco was registered in 2008, and in 2014 Mr Thom became a shareholder, before being succeeded by Jan Harm Snyman of Brits, South Africa in 2015. The same process took place for Feduna Ltd, a company first incorporated in 2011. Both Snyman and Thom seem to be associated with Hatherley Ltd, a company linked with numerous entities registered in Hong Kong. There is also a Johanna Elizabeth Snyman in the Panama Papers, a shareholder in VU Group Holding Ltd, a BVI company set up in 2009. Mrs Snyman appears to have replaced Brenda Cocksedge in 2015, another well known nominee director with multiple addresses. But VU Group Holding Ltd is linked with Ukraine rather Samoa, probably because the intermediary company was not Mossack Fonseca in the first instance, but C & A Partners LLP. This appears to be a British based company which is now known as C & A lawyers LLP, which appears to be run by Trusco Management Ltd in Belize. In any case, in the ICIJ database, C & A Partners LLP is the intermediary for 38 entities.

The C & A Partners LLP appears elsewhere in the Panama Papers, such as intermediary for Nga Investment Corp, which is a Panamanian company set up in 2015. The shareholder and beneficiary is Arthur Joseph Grice, a resident of Hartbeespoort in South Africa. Grice also succeeded Nicholas Thom as a shareholder in Light Trading Invest Ltd in 2015, a Seychelles company set up in 2011. Grice is also involved with Hatherley Ltd, and linked with Cartech Ltd, another intermediary involved with Hong Kong companies. Grice had also succeeded Brenda Cocksedge in two BVI companies, as entries in the ICIJ database, and in certain British limited liability partnerships. For example, there is Sevenoaks Solutions LLP, where Grice and Cocksedge were the designated members during 2015; and other members have included Hartbeespoort residents, Christopher Collins and Mirlene Helen Loraine Taljaard, as well as another well known nominee director Christina Cornelia van den Berg. It appears that the person controlling Sevenoaks Solutions LLP is one Roberto Vittorio Gerado Barbagallo of Switzerland. Barbagallo also happens to be a recently appointed director of Ciako Ltd, a New Zealand company.

Going back to the British companies and LLPs, the South African directors appear on many occasions, in various combinations, often linked with Nicholas Thom. Dirk Cornelis Taljaard appears in the Panama Papers in a number of entries, including Ocean Business Solutions Ltd, where he succeeds Mr Thom. Stephanus and Margaret Louise Janke of South Africa, also appear in the database, as shareholders in Seychelles and Hong Kong based companies. Others from the Hartsbeespoort region include the Jouberts, the van Heerdens, and Lunedi-Lidia Jordan, all linked to Seychelles based companies; and the odd New Zealand company being run out of Helmore Ayers office in Christchurch.

But finally a rather farcical example of British company formation involving the Taylor associate, Nesita Manceau, their domestique from Vanuatu. Oldbury Consultants Ltd’s current nominee director is Jan Harm Snyman, who also holds the 100 shares, having bought them from Peter Matovu Mwanje. Mwanje is listed as a journalist living in the U.K., and had two terms as a director during 2015, one lasting all of a day. Nesita Manceau is also listed as a director three times, one beginning in 2006 and ending on 14 April 2015; she also has one day appointments on 2 March 2015, and another on 14 April 2015. One can only wonder what the game was, that required these one day wonders.

Addendum: I just want to note two of the British companies and the Ukrainian links found along the way. Olton Services LLP had two Cypriot designated members, Eleana Christodoulou and Xenia Thoma; the person with significant control was Tatyana Zasukha of Ukraine. Winning Invest & Trade Ltd had Nicholas Henry Thom and Arthur Joseph Grice as directors, and an Ilia Michaeli of Ukraine as director; Eliahu Robinovich was the person with significant control. A closer look indicated that Eli Michael-Robonovich as the shareholder was probably the same person, even though the director was apparently Georgian, and the other Robinovich was apparently an Israeli living in Ukraine.