Would the Seychelles archipelago have sheltered the money of the Marseilles environment? This is one of the questions that arise when reading the name of a certain Marilyn Benedetto in the “Pandora Papers”. This native of Marseilles, 48 years old, is the daughter of Marcel Benedetto, a former figure of the medium, assassinated in 2010. According to a confidential document consulted by The world, On November 14, 2017, she created a Seychellois offshore company with southern accents, Ricard Management Ltd, through a Mauritian firm.
What are the “Pandora Papers”?
“Pandora Papers” is a collaborative investigation led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in partnership with 150 international media, including The world. It is based on the leak of nearly 12 million confidential documents, transmitted by an anonymous source to the ICIJ, from the archives of fourteen firms specializing in the creation of offshore companies in tax havens (British Virgin Islands, Dubai, Singapore, Panama, the Seychelles…).
Five years after the “Panama Papers”, the survey reveals the extent of the abuses of the offshore industry and its limited companies. She shows how this system benefits hundreds of policymakers, and how new tax havens are taking over as old ones convert to transparency.
Ten days earlier, Gérald Campanella, a man presented by the police as one of the godfathers of Marseille, was arrested by the French police, after more than four years on the run. During his flight, Marilyn Benedetto had lodged him for a long time in his large house overlooking Bandol. “A brother for her”, which she knew “Belonging to banditry”, she then said at the hearing. The court considered that she “Fully subscribed to the association of criminals” and had sentenced her to three years in prison, one of which was suspended and a fine of 15,000 euros.
The documents do not specify for what purpose Mme Benedetto decided to open this company. But, after first asserting to the World that she did not know anything about the existence of this structure, Mme Benedetto finally indicated that Ricard Management Ltd had been created at the request of a partner whose name it did not wish to reveal, “To finance machinery for a construction company based in Mauritius”. This offshore structure, backed by a bank account, was, according to her, intended to settle the payment for the repurchase of shares in a company belonging to this partner. Was it a question of concealing assets from the French tax authorities? “Not at all, my partner lives in Mauritius! And, even though he wanted to, I never put any money into that account. I have nothing to reproach myself. I was in the process and could not pay. “
Alexandre Djouhri’s son
Another Frenchman, with a familiar name, chose the Seychelles to register his company, called “AD Holding Group Ltd”. “AD” like Alexandre Djouhri. This is not the arms intermediary, indicted in the case of the alleged Libyan financing of Nicolas Sarkozy’s campaign, in particular for corruption and possible embezzlement of public funds. But of his son, who has the same first name, and is called, for convenience, by his middle name: Germain.
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