On the anniversary of the Panama Papers, human rights campaigner Global Witness put out a press release linking one of the largest privatisations in history—the sale of almost 20 percent of Russian oil giant Rosneft to a consortium led by FTSE 100 company Glencore—with allegations of Russian tampering in the 2016 U.S. election, Cayman Island shell companies, and the fact that Glencore companies have been reported to appear over 660 times in the Panama Papers themselves. That 660 is probably not a record, but an indication that the company—in common with so many others—uses shell companies to conduct its transactions. The fact that something is common practice and legal, however, does not make it best practice.
