An ICIJ Investigation
West Africa Leaks
In the region’s largest-ever journalism collaboration, reporters from 11 countries expose the financial secrets of some of West Africa’s most powerful politicians, moguls and corporations.
INSIDE ICIJ
Behind the scenes of the largest-ever West African journalism collaboration
By ICIJ
July 10, 2018
- Leaked records uncover the secretive companies and bank accounts of some of West Africa’s most powerful politicians and corporate moguls, including a Mali presidential candidate, the mayor of Cote d’Ivoire’s richest city and a member of the Togolese ruling dynasty inner circle
- Files also reveal details behind a Seychelles company of a longtime friend of Nobel Prize-winning Liberian ex-president Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf who helped lobby on behalf of a mining company
- Honorary consuls, including several representing European countries, used offshore companies and accounts to avoid taxes and keep money out of sight from authorities in West Africa
- A Canadian multinational used a letterbox company as a conduit and avoided paying millions of dollars in tax to Senegal, one of the world’s 25 poorest countries
