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| Lebanon - Prime Minister Najib Mikati |
About
Najib Mikati is Lebanon’s prime minister, serving in that role for the third time.
Worth more than $2 billion, Mikati is among the country’s wealthiest people. Along with his brother, he launched a satellite phone company in 1982, and he later founded the M1 Group, an investment company with assets in South Africa, Europe and the United States.
Mikati represented his hometown of Tripoli in the Lebanese Parliament for four years beginning in 2000. He served as Lebanon’s minister of public works from 1998 to 2004. He was briefly appointed caretaker prime minister in 2005, before parliamentary elections. With the backing of Hezbollah and other political factions, Mikati was appointed prime minister again in 2011. But he lost the support of the Hezbollah militant group and resigned in 2014, before the end of his term.
Protesters have frequently targeted Mikati and other members of Lebanon’s ruling elite, alleging that their corruption is responsible for a faltering economy that has plunged millions into poverty.
In 2019, a state prosecutor charged Mikati, a son, a brother and a bank with illegally profiting from a government-subsidized housing loan program. The Mikatis have denied the charges, calling them “politically motivated”. The judge’s decision in the case is pending.
Political Career
- Prime Minister (2011-2013)
- Prime Minister (2005)
- Member of Parliament (2000-2004)
- Minister of Public Works (1998-2004)
Leaked Details in the Pandora Papers
Mikati is the owner of Hessville Investment Inc., a company created in Panama in 1994.
Mikati’s Monaco-based company, M1 Management SAM, helped facilitate operations of the offshore company. In 2008, according to the Pandora Papers, Hessville Investment bought a property in Monaco for more than $10 million.
The leaked documents also show that Mikati’s son Maher was a director of at least two British Virgin Islands-based companies, which the M1 Group used to own an office in Central London.
Responding to an email sent to Najib and Maher Mikatil, Maher Mikati told ICIJ and media partner Daraj that in 2005, his father bought a residence in Monaco by buying shares in Hessville Investment, the Panamanian company that owned it. According to Maher, the apartment’s previous owner created the company in 1994. His father still owns the property, he said.
“It is very typical to own real estate through companies rather than directly,” Maher said, adding that most of the family’s personal real estate is owned by companies.
Maher said such companies offer “flexibility,” including potential tax advantages, inheritance planning, and “liability ring fencing, if you decide to rent the property.”
Lebanese nationals, he said, use Panama and BVI companies “due to the easy process of incorporation” and not to evade taxes.
Secrecy Broker
At the heart of the Pandora Papers are 14 offshore firms that help clients establish companies in secrecy jurisdictions. This profile draws on leaked data from these providers:
1. Alcogal
Alemán, Cordero, Galindo & Lee, or Alcogal, is a go-to offshore provider for top politicians and elites in Latin America and beyond. Founded in Panama, the firm has ties to nearly half of all the politicians whose names appear in the Pandora Papers leak. Here are some of the top political figures involved.
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