Two of Colombia’s former presidents have been managing their private capital through opaque offshore firms, according to the Pandora Papers leak that was published on Sunday.
The leak revealed that former President Cesar Gaviria and his brother are among the owners of a Panamanian firm whose subsidiary in Colombia sells fuel to public transport companies.
The family of former President Andres Pastrana are the shareholders of another firm in Panama that would me managing the dynasty’s “Colombian investments abroad.”
According to Pastrana, his family’s secretive offshore activities are legal. Gaviria refused to respond, according to newspaper El Espectador and investigate journalism website Connectas.
The former presidents and their families
Colombia’s Pandora Papers
The Pandora Papers, which revealed offshore activities of more than 588 members of Colombia’s elite, including the country’s most powerful bankers and a number of regional “clans.”
Whether these activities are legal depends on whether these offshore assets are known to tax agency DIAN, whose director also has been moving assets through tax havens.
Politicians
- Guillermo Botero
The former defense minister of President Ivan Duque between 2018 and 2019. - Gina Parody
The former education minister of former President Juan Manuel Santos between 2014 and 2016 who has been tied to the Odebrecht bribery scandal.
Bankers
- Luis Carlos Sarmiento
Sarmiento is Colombia’s richest man and the owner of banking giant Grupo Aval, which is being investigated for its involvement in the Odebrecht bribery scandal. - Jaime Gilinski
Gilinski is one of Colombia’s most controversial bankers and the owner of weekly Semana. - Eduardo Pacheco
Eduardo Pacheco is the president of the board of directors of the Colpatria bank.
Clans and dynasties
- Araujo Clan
The Araujo Clan is a dynasty that wield tremendous power in the Caribbean region and has been linked to paramilitary groups in the past. - Carvajal dynasty
The Carvajal dynasty is one of the wealthiest families from Colombia’s third largest city Cali that has business interests throughout Latin America - Daes Clan
The Daes Clan is one of the most mysterious clans that wields both economical and political power in Barranquilla, Colombia’s most important port city on the Caribbean coast. - Gerlein Clan
The Gerlein Clan is another clan from Barranquilla that lost a lot of its power after the prosecution found evidence its members were involved in election rigging in 2018. - Solarte dynasty
The Solarte family is one of Colombia’s most prominent dynasties an one of the country’s most important government contractors in the construction sector. - Echavarria dynasty
The Echavarria dynasty are the heirs of late Liberal Party mogul and the owner of manufacturing giant Corona, Hernan Echavarria from Colombia’s second largest city Medellin. - Barberi dynasty
Duque’s former foreign minister, Claudia Blum, is the wife of Francisco Barberi, the main heir of his father’s business empire, which has been implicated in several business cartels.
