Intermediaries dominate 300 Irish firms with Panama links

There are 323 companies in the leaked Mossack Fonseca files associated with addresses in Ireland, mostly by way of the intermediaries that acted for the ultimate beneficial owners.

The fact that the offshore companies are associated with an Irish address does not necessarily mean that the ultimate beneficial owners are Irish. Likewise, the number of Irish people who are the ultimate beneficial owners of offshore companies connected with Mossack is unclear because many Irish people use intermediaries in other jurisdictions, such as the Channel Islands.

The files also show that Irish ultimate beneficial owners use banks outside Ireland to establish offshore companies through Mossack.

An analysis of the Irish intermediaries shows there are seven that are connected with eight or more offshore companies on behalf of their clients.

Corporate services

The largest, the Pegasus Trust/Laburnum Finance operation on Botanic Avenue, in Drumcondra, Dublin, is a small business the website of which says it offers trust and corporate services and that the jurisdictions in which it can provide services include the Bahamas, the Cayman Islands and the Seychelles. A spokesman for Pegasus has said most of its clients are foreign.

The International Offshore Services Group, with an address on Chelmsford Road, Dublin 6, was incorporated in 1995 and dissolved in 2009. Its shares were held by two companies in El Dorado, Panama. It is associated with 54 offshore companies in the Mossack files.

Old Crown Trust Ltd, of Dame Court, Dublin 2, is owned by Martin Sandle of Zurich, in Switzerland, and Nan Marie Sandle, of New York City, in the United States, according to its latest annual return. A spokesman for the company did not want to comment. The files show it linked to 44 companies associated with Mossack.

BDO Simpson Xavier, of Mercer Street, Dublin 2, is a well- known Irish financial services firm and a member of the international BDO network. A spokesman said it did not want to comment. The Mossack files show it linked to 24 offshore entities.

Stembridge Trust Ireland, now Stembridge Group Ltd, is based in Sandyford, Dublin 18, and is owned by Paul Newman, with an address in Switzerland. Mr Newman, who is also a director of Stembridge, is a former director of Pegasus Corporate Services Ltd, part of the Pegasus Trust operation. A spokesman said Stembridge did not wish to comment. The leaked files indicate it is associated with 24 offshore companies associated with the Mossack group.

Denville Consultants SA, a company incorporated in the Bahamas, used a post-office box in Castlegregory, Co Kerry, as its address in its dealings with Mossack. It in turn had 15 offshore companies that are associated with Mossack that also used the Castlegregory address.

It was not possible to contact a representative of Denville, which was itself dissolved some years ago. International Fund Services (Ireland) Ltd, of Sir John Rogerson's Quay, Dublin 2, is part of the State Street group, a global US financial services business.

A request for a comment met with no response. The leaked files indicate the company was associated with eight offshore companies linked to Mossack, all of them in the British Virgin Islands.