Island officials licensed law firm at centre of Panama Papers leak although it repeatedly could not fulfil legal obligation to name companies’ real owners
• Panama Papers: global reaction to leak
The British Virgin Islands continued to license Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the centre of an unprecedented leak of confidential information, despite knowing it was repeatedly unable to find out who owned the companies on its books.
Registered agents such as the Panamanian law firm have a legal obligation to provide company information on request to the authorities on the islands, a British overseas territory.
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