Meliá, Riu and Damm among other new names revealed in Panamá leaks

MAJOR national firms in Spain have been named in the so-called 'Panamá Papers' as having stashed funds in dormant offshore companies, including Carceller – which owns the beer manufacturer Damm – the Meliá and Riu hotel groups and Martinón.

Carceller is alleged to have created a network of companies in the tiny South Pacific State of Niue and also in Samoa to help finance its operations in Spain.

Spanish tax authorities have been aware of some of these firms for over a decade, according to the Panamá leaks documents.

The National Court archived the case against Carceller five years ago, but it has just been reopened with the prosecution calling for 48-and-a-half years in prison for the owner and 14 years for his son.

So far, film director Pedro Almodóvar, Barça FC's Leo Messi, and King Felipe VI's aunt Pilar de Borbón have been named, but all three insist the companies they set up in tax havens were all above board.

The names revealed were all said to have been clients of the Panamá City-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, whose activities were revealed in the exposé by investigative journalists who sold the story to a German media group.

Spanish banks including Santander, Sabadell and the BBVA are said to have helped wealthy clients set up offshore companies, but again, they insist they did so within the law.

Companies and persons named in Spain are only a handful of the long list revealed in the Panamá leaks, with politicians, business owners and other ultra-high net-worth individuals from all over the world mentioned – including the Icelandic prime minister, who has recently resigned in response to public pressure.