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Famous Spanish personalities reportedly included in "Panama Papers"

Xinhua, April 4, 2016 Adjust font size:

Several famous Spanish personalities including the sister of Juan Carlos I of Spain and famous film director Pedro Almodovar are included in the so-called "Panama Papers" which were reportedly leaked to the international press over the weekend.

The documents leaked from the Panamanian lawyers Mossack Fonseca reveal a host of public personalities with funds invested in opaque "offshore" investments in fiscal paradises.

Among the famous Spaniards implicated is Pilar de Borbon, the sister of Juan Carlos I and the aunt of King Felipe VI of Spain, according to local reports.

According to the papers, she was director and president of the company Delantera Financiera SA, established in Panama in August 1974, a month after Juan Carlos was named as the successor to Francisco Franco. The company was dissolved just five days after Felipe was proclaimed King following Juan Carlos' abdication in June 2014.

Others implicated are the Domecq family, whose interests include the famous sherry house among others, and former Agriculture Minister Miguel Arias Canaete, who was the People's Party candidate in the elections for the European Parliament in 2014 and who is now a European Commissioner for Energy and Climate Action, according to the papers.

Pedro Almodovar has received some unwanted publicity for his new film "Julieta" with the revelation that he and his brother Agustin had a company named Glen Valley Corporation registered in the British Virgin Islands, which is considered in Spain to be a fiscal paradise.

FC Barcelona star Leo Messi's name is also reported to be in the papers that said he and his father used a Uruguayan office to open a Panamanian society, "MegaStar Enterprises" which they used for billing image rights from June 2013.

The Argentinean star has rejected these claims and he and his father Jorge have begun legal action against the Spanish online newspaper 'El Confidencial' which published them. Endit