Namibia’s Missing Millions

The massive leak of financial data known as the Paradise Papers has revealed how multinational companies drain vital tax revenues from countries in the developing world. For Assignment, David Grossman focuses on Namibia’s fishing industry. The documents reveal how one of the world’s biggest fishing companies shifted some of its profits away from Namibia into the tiny tax haven of Mauritius. That’s money that could be used to build schools and hospitals. The Namibian government has described the situation as frustrating and untenable and says it wants to renegotiate the kind of tax agreement they have with Maurituis that enables multi-nationals to divert money off-shore.

(Photo: The Leader, owned by Pacific Andes, is part of Namibia's fishing fleet)