Argentina minister named in Paradise Papers

Argentinian Minister of Energy and Mining Juan José Aranguren was involved in at least two offshore companies, local media reported on Tuesday.

La Nación reported that while he was a senior executive at Shell, the energy minister served as a director for Shell Western Supply and Trading as well as Sol Antilles and Guianas, both companies cited in an international investigation into tax havens called the Paradise Papers.

According to the newspaper, Minister Aranguren only held a position at Shell Western for five months in 2003, giving up the post when he became president of the super-major’s Argentinian subsidiary. La Nación emphasised the potential link between Aranguren’s involvement in the company and the award of 13 diesel supply contracts to Shell after he had been appointed energy minister.

Speaking to the newspaper, Minister Aranguren said, “if they analyse the winners of these bids, they will verify that each contract was awarded to the company that offered the lowest value, with the lowest cost to the public treasury.”

Aranguren denies having been involved in Sol Antilles and Guianas in 1996.

Citizen’s Unity, the political party headed by Argentina’s former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, on Tuesday called for Aranguren’s resignation from his post at the Ministry of Energy and Mining, to which he was appointed in December 2015 by President Mauricio Macri.

Other Argentinian government officials have been named in the Paradise Papers as well, including finance minister Luis Caputo, who is said to have been involved in an investment fund with branches in the tax havens of the Caymen Islands and the US state of Delaware.