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Offshore Leaks Database

Data from
Panama Papers - The Power Players
Advised former Greek prime minister

Stavros Papastavrou

Involved in multiple offshore foundations

Related to

Greece

About

Not long after Antonis Samaras came to power in the June 2012 Greek elections, Stavros Papastavrou, a lawyer and longtime Nea Demokratia party operative found himself working for the new prime minister as deputy chief of staff for European and international affairs. While his job initially seemed ill-defined, Papastavrou ended up becoming Samaras’ chief negotiator with the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank over the Greek bailout. Meanwhile, a tax-evasion probe turned up an undeclared bank deposit of about $5.4 million in an HSBC Swiss bank account with Papastavrou’s name on it. He denied the money was his, but paid a $3.6 million fine on Feb. 2, 2016, to settle charges of tax evasion and money laundering. He has vowed to prove that the fine was unjust and have it revoked.

In the data

From 2005 to 2014 Papastavrou was a member of the councils of the Panamanian foundations Green Shamrock Foundation and Diman Foundation. In 2006, he became the deputy chairman of Aisios Foundation, which still exists today.

Response

Initially Papastavrou said he didn't remember the foundations but later said his records showed him as having served as a member of the councils of the Green Shamrock, Diman and Aisios foundations. He said he did so "for two long term family friends" and received no compensation. He said he had "no ownership interest in these entities of any kind" and "was under no obligation" to declare them to tax authorities. He later wrote that the councils were meant to be active only if a foundation's founder died, which "never happened" for any of the three. A law firm speaking on behalf of the owner of the Aisios foundation wrote that Papastavrou resigned in 2012 and never had a "right to the foundation's assets and never received any remuneration."
This visualization contains relevant information in relation to the profiled individual. Some additional connections might show up once we release the full structured data connected to the Paradise Papers investigation in the coming weeks.

Disclaimer

There are legitimate uses for offshore companies and trusts. The inclusion of a person or entity in the ICIJ Offshore Leaks Database is not intended to suggest or imply that they have engaged in illegal or improper conduct. Many people and entities have the same or similar names. We suggest you confirm the identities of any individuals or entities included in the database based on addresses or other identifiable information. The data comes directly from the leaked files ICIJ has received in connection with various investigations and each dataset encompasses a defined time period specified in the database. Some information may have changed over time. Please contact us if you find an error in the database.

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