Global fishing firm linked to Namibian tax scam

An international fishing company that partnered 12 high-profile Namibians, including politicians and a retired military general, is at the centre of allegations that it has been avoiding its taxes in Namibia. Global fish trader Pacific Andes, which specialises in the processing, distribution and sale of seafood products, is registered in Bermuda in the Caribbean. Documents show that Pacific Andes used another of its companies, registered in Mauritius but with no employees, to move money back and forth, and to channel fees and profits from high-tax Namibia into low-tax jurisdictions. A report on the allAfrica site notes that the company is linked to Namibia through its Singapore Stock Exchange-listed subsidiary, Pacific Andes Resources Development. The report notes that the documents show how deeply the offshore financial system is entangled with the overlapping worlds of politics, wealth and corporate power, in schemes to avoid paying taxes through increasingly imaginative accounting manoeuvres.