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Panama Bearer Share Corporations – Panama has truly anonymous bearer share corporations. Nominee directors are used and they appear in the public registry. The owner’s names of the corporation do not appear in any public registry or database and the Panama Government does not even know who owns the corporation. There is no requirement to report the sale or transfer of the company to the Panama Government or us. The shares do not have to be kept anywhere and they can be made out in blank. The books and records can be kept anywhere in the world. There are no capital restrictions on the corporation.
Panama Private Interest Foundations – The Panama Foundation is anonymous. No one owns a Panama Foundation and the Panama Foundation can own a corporation. The beneficiaries of a Panama Foundation and the Foundation Protector are secret and do not appear in any public registry or database and the Panama Government does not even know who or what these are. The Panama Foundation uses Nominee Council Members that do appear in the public registry.
Panama Banks – Panama banks have banking secrecy. The secrecy is effective against civil matters. If a National Government approaches Panama on a criminal matter where the crime is also a crime in Panama the chances are Panama will cooperate. On a tax only matter they will not cooperate. Panama does have a fraudulent conveyance statue. Fraudulent conveyance is not illegal in Panama but the statue allows a creditor to come to Panama and sue you for monies that they can prove were fraudulently conveyed to Panama to remove funds from the reach of a creditor. Not an easy thing to prove. Has a three-year time limit from the date of the funds transfer. We have never had this happen to any client. This would be an expensive procedure for a creditor and very difficult for them to win. Just having the funds in Panama is not enough; they need to prove the transfer was to remove the funds from the creditor. If the funds were removed while a court case was in process then they were not a creditor and then the statue most likely would not be applicable. The banks in Panama are world class and many offer online banking including the ability to send wire transfers online. They offer Euro and USD accounts. A very small amount of Panama banks have stock brokerage services. One does not need to come to Panama to open a bank account.
Guatemala Corporations – These are expensive and only of use for banking in Guatemala. We do not open accounts in Guatemala where the client signs on the account. This takes too long and they want the client to appear at the bank in person if they are going to be the signatory. They are anonymous corporations. They can be bearer share as well.
Guatemala Banks – Guatemala has some really large solid banks. They offer online banking including ability to send international wires online. The Guatemala banks are only done through a trust agreement where the Guatemala Law Firm is the signatory and beneficiary owner on the bank account. This is an expensive solution but offers the utmost in privacy. Guatemala is very unlikely to share information with any country except in cases involving major criminality like child exploitation, slavery, blackmail, kidnapping, piracy (as in sea going murdering walk the plank pirates) and murder.
Money laundering is a very difficult case to prove in Guatemala. The burden of proof is on the prosecutor. They cannot just say we want the records because we suspect money laundering. They must show the crime that the suspected funds are derived from and implicate the defendant to the crime and tie the money to the crime. Very difficult to accomplish in your typical fluffed up money laundering case where the money laundering itself is the targeted crime and there is no real underlying crime that the funds were the fruit of. Laundering funds derived from real criminal enterprises like white slavery, drug dealing, murder is not going to be treated favorably in Guatemala. Guatemala presents no risk from a fraudulent conveyance action. Civil matters from outside of Guatemala present no risk to the assets held in Guatemala. Attorney client privilege is extremely strong in Guatemala. Police can hardly search anything without your permission or a court order including entering your home or office. Judges are very slow to issue search warrants and a lot of evidence is going to be needed.
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