Scores of high-profile Africans —including the nephew of South African President Jacob Zuma and the Nigerian Senate president, Bukola Saraki— have come under scrutiny after being linked to offshore accounts and shell companies in the leak of 11.5 million tax documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. South Africa’s Finance Minister, Pravin Gordhan, has ordered an investigation into citizens of the country named in the Panama Papers, but other African countries have been slower to respond.
Former South African President Thabo Mbeki, who heads up the AU’s panel on illicit financial flows, issued a statement on Friday referring to the leak as “most welcome” and calling for concerted action across Africa and the world to tackle illicit forms of tax evasion. Mbeki pointed out that the fourth most-used tax haven revealed within the Panama Papers was an African nation—the Seychelles—and said this meant that African countries “must not rest under the illusion that the issue of tax havens does not directly affect Africa.”
