Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has
been named in the Panama Papers as a former director of a British
Virgin Islands company set up to exploit a Siberian gold prospect, the
Australian Financial Review reported on Thursday.
Turnbull and former New South Wales Premier
Neville Wran joined the board of Australian-listed Star Mining NL in
1993. The company hoped to develop a A$20 billion ($14.8 billion)
Siberian gold mine called Sukhoi Log, the paper said.
Both Turnbull and Wran were subsequently
appointed directors of Star Technology Services, a subsidiary of Star
Mining in the British Virgin Islands which had been incorporated by
Mossack Fonseca, the Panama-based law firm at the center of the global
scandal.
There was no suggestion Turnbull acted
improperly and he resigned from both companies in 1995, the AFR said.
Turnbull's spokesman had no immediate comment when contacted by Reuters.
The details are included in documents obtained
by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists known as
the Panama Paper but are not part of the publicly searchable database,
the AFR reported.
Tax havens and transparency have been thrust
into the spotlight as governments worldwide launch probes into possible
financial wrongdoing after the details of hundreds of thousands of
clients' tax affairs were leaked from Mossack Fonseca.
Turnbull, a former investment banker and
technology entrepreneur, is campaigning ahead of a general election on
July 2, with his ruling Liberal-National coalition in a virtual tie with
the main opposition.
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