Vietnamese people named in "Panama Papers"

Canada's Toronto Star news site reported that one of the citizens of this country named in the Panama Papers is Mr. Eric Van Nguyen, 32 years old, a stock investor of Vietnamese origin.

Vietnamese-Canadian investor Eric Van Nguyen is named in the Panama Papers. (Photo: Montreal)

The news site cited documents from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) saying that Mr. Eric Van Nguyen and seven others were investigated in 2014 for allegedly defrauding investors into buying $290 million worthless stocks.

Meanwhile, Le Journal de Montreal newspaper quoted ICIJ sources as saying that Mr. Eric is a former partner of John Babikian - a man nicknamed "The Wolf of Montreal" because of the similarity with the nickname "The Wolf of Wall Street" associated with Jordan Belfort, a wealthy but sinful broker.

According to the Panama Papers, Mr Eric may have set up a shell company in Samoa in the South Pacific and an anonymous company in the British Virgin Islands.

Mr. Eric has not made any comments yet.

Canada is among several countries that have launched investigations into their citizens suspected of tax evasion or money laundering following information in the newly leaked Panama Papers.

11.5 million secret tax documents from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonesca were leaked with the participation of ICIJ and nearly 400 investigative reporters from more than 80 countries around the world and 100 international media outlets.

The files, which involve some 214,000 offshore businesses and individuals from 200 countries and territories, reveal the offshore assets of 140 politicians and officials around the world, including 12 current and former world leaders.

According to Dan Tri