Disclosure in the Caymans: Global walls of financial secrecy are falling

In 1998, the Nigerian oil minister, Dan Etete, awarded the concession to oil block OPL245 to Malabu Oil and Gas – for $2 million, five days after the company was set up. It was later found that Mr. Etete was the real owner of Malabu, and that he had awarded himself the concession for a pittance: When it was sold 13 years later, he reportedly made $1.1 billion.

He is now facing corruption charges in Nigeria and in Italy.

In late 2007 and early 2008, a company in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) linked to Russian mobsters wired at least $900,000 to another BVI company owned by a Russian businessman who was later sanctioned by the United States for

Impetus from a crisisNew pressure on 'shell companies'Possible steps in US