Offshore is not a bad word!
Ahmed Elnaggar
Managing Partner at Elnaggar & Partners I Founder at The Jurist I Host at Monday Legal I President at Emirates Legal Network
The misconception about Offshore Companies and SPV’s
Every few years the news headlines scream?information about a?huge scandal?or more?because of some leaked documents whether from a law firm or a bank that mainly involves – as they highlight – offshore companies, offshore trusts, and offshore accounts. These documents are usually a huge sum that reach to several millions in the number and includes names of?so many?publicly recognisable people, whether politicians, celebrities in any field as well as sports icons revealing confidential data about their investments, savings, and other sensitive personal data.??
News articles, propaganda and news headlines are drawn to demonise the offshore?structures?business and?mainly to?point the guilt fingers on some legit professionals doing their job assisting their clients and glorifying the efforts of a journalist and his unmarked source of information who illegally and unjustly have leaked millions of documents of thousands of innocent and legally obedient people around the world to just?write?a story that makes the headlines for few days. Confidential information leaked, business at risk, commercial information revealed and, thousands of dollars spent in vain?because a?journalist?or a paper wants?to make the headlines.?In reality,?less than 1% of the documents leaked show or reveal some illegal practices of some of those who use offshore structures for?illegal or?corrupt endeavours. So many of the revealed information and data even about those celebrities or well known people are basically legal and should remain confidential!?
Offshore Companies, Special Purpose Vehicles, International Business Companies, Holding Companies, are all keywords and terms that will be read or heard whenever you will read a headline or watch a story about the subject of a huge?finding?by leaked documents with the words Offshore Leaks, Panama Papers, Paradise Papers and lastly Pandora Papers. I would like to highlight some basic info for those who are not specialised,?in simple words and terms to make it simple to understand, especially?that?the mass?media is not necessarily feeding the public with correct info or?the true story. They just like to make a Story. Media is making?news?to sell more copies or get more views; or to follow the trend to get more likes, shares and comments!?
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Offshore Companies. They're also called IBC's International Business Companies. Such companies are established in certain countries like Panama, British Virgin Islands, Guernsey, Jersey, Luxemburg, UK, USA and UAE and Cayman Islands and many more as per a specific law that regulates their activities and limit it to certain activities ONLY that are mostly related to structuring of other companies, investments and acting as holding company.
In the modern world,?successful?businesses spread from one company doing business in one country to having subsidiaries and branches all over the world depending on what is the best case for running the business in the foreign country and on the nature of the foreign country laws and regulations. businessmen and big corporations need such Offshore Companies to act as holding companies for their foreign investments, banking, asset protection and many other reasons to be able to handle their foreign or local investments without exposing their business, themselves or their companies into so much risk.?It is not so complicated to understand. It is the same thing you do with your clothes at home, you buy a wardrobe to collect and organize all your clothes in one place and you shelf them based on their purpose and use to you can find and use them effeciently!?
?Offshore Companies are a tool to do business that is the solution to hundreds of problems and helps many businessmen and professionals and it would be very na?ve to solely blame Offshore Companies for money laundering, illegal arms deals, terrorism financing?or?tax evasion. So many Onshore and Resident companies worldwide are responsible of the majority of the illegal activities happening all over the world. However, the blame falls?majorly?on Offshore Companies and Offshore Banking which is a very narrow and questionable opinion, a very unprofessional misconception if I would explain it the best. Offshore Companies have a lot of legal, legitimate, fair and useful uses that maybe makes your life a lot easier, safer and manageable.?
?Nowadays we all experience and suffer from the huge risks and damages that happens to our life due to the leakage of information and personal data and we all complaint about those incidents when we are exposed to such confidential data leakage. No one wants his personal address, bank details, family data, personal documents and more to be leaked to the public. However, such info must be provided to so many service providers who would like to identify the person they are dealing with?for legitimate reasons. For this particular example offshore structure would protect your confidentiality and help you manage your life more effectively and efficiently.
Just like anything in your toolbox, it can be used and misused! Guns can be used for personal safety and can protect countries borders from invaders threats and can be misused to terrorize innocent people. It is not the gun to blame.
Digital Marketing Consultant | Google & Meta Certified | CIM Level 6 Diploma Student | 11 Years Experience | Lead Generation Expert
3 年As I'm not someone specialized in the related sectors, I used to have most of these misconceptions. Thank you for correcting them in a very simple way ????
Founder/CEO at ANALOGIC Rights ? Corporate Services Provider ? Dubai
3 年I have read some of your stories, but this one is the best for me)