Africa’s richest man has been linked to Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the center of the massive Panama Papers leak.

Panama-based law firm, Mossack Fonseca helped prominent global figures stash away billions of dollars in secret offshore accounts.

According to the leaked papers, Dangote and his half brother, Sayyu Dantata as well as some other members of their family, have links to at least 13 shell companies based on company registration addresses provided by shareholders in Panama.

Dangote and Dantata allegedly bought equal shares of 12,500 each from OVLAS S.A, a shell company registered in Seycheles, on October 6, 2003 and on the same date, MRS Oil and Gas Co. Limited, a company owned by the both of them as at that time, bought 25,000 shares from the same OVLAS S.A.

OVLAS S.A is a company in Seychelles, a well known haven for businessmen and politicians who want to evade tax.

However, 3 years later, on April 12, 2006, Dangote, Dantata and M.R.S Oil and Gas Company Limited relinquished ownership of the shares in the company but in a strange arrangement, Dangote and Dantata were issued 250,000 units of shares each from the same company while MRS got 500,000 shares on the same day.

In a similar occurrence, 3 years later, the trio ceased to be shareholders but immediately resumed ownership of the shares again.

It would appear that Dangote sold his shares to Dantata as he permanently ceased to be a shareholder on July 6, 2009 and his half brother came up with 500,000 shares while MRS retained its 500,000.

Dantata, till date, is still in possession of the said shares.

Before Dangote relinquished his shares in MRS Oil and Gas Limited, MRS was used to buy shares in Petrowest S.A, another company registered in Seychelles on October 6, 2003.

Dantata and Dangote also bought equal shares of 12,500 each from Petrowest S.A while MRS also bought 25,000 shares from the same Petrowest just as it was done with OVLAS S.A.

Again, 3 years later, the trio also ceased to be shareholders in Petrowest on April 12, 2006, same as was done with OVLAS S.A.

According to Premium Times, on the same day that the trio relinquished ownership of their shares, they were re-issued 250,000 each for Dangote and Dantata and 500,000 for MRS.

Subsequently, the shareholders then filed for a change of name from OVLAS to Petrowest S.A in an attempt to blur the trace to the shell company.

A document reported to be seen by Premium Times, reads “Republic of Seychelles, INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS COMPANIES ACT, 1994…Company No: 018606. This is to certify that OVLAS SA. has changed its name and is now incorporated under the name of PETROWEST S.A. on this 27th day of April 2011. Given at Victoria, Seychelles.”

In a separate document, it was further discovered that Petrowest took on Ovlas S.A in Seychelles in 2011 and due to the name change, Petrowest bought 100 units of shares at $100 each from Ovlas to become a shareholder of the company in 2012.

From the document, Dantata, Anil Kumar Ahluwalia and MRS Investments Company share same company address – Plot 6, Block 2, Osborne Road, Ikoyi, Lagos Island – on companies incorporated for them offshore by Mossack Fonseca

The M.R.S Investments Companies mentioned earlier is a subsidiary of MRS Holdings.

MRS Investments Company is a shareholder company to Chalmers Shipping Incorporation which is also linked to another company Afrex Sal, in Panama.

According to the document seen by Premium Times, Afrex Sal is a client company of Dantata and Dangote’s Ovlas Trading based in Monaco France.

Ovlas Trading is co-owned by Sayyu Dantata and Patrice Alberti in the name of Ovlas Trading S.A., for 75 shares with a value of US$ 100,00 each; and in the name of Karbelina Investments LLC, for 25 shares with a par value of USS 100,00 each.

Dangote and Dantata have allegedly used their several companies in Nigeria and other countries to collect huge loans.