Defunct Premier Group links uncovered in Panama Papers

Wound up Isle of Man-based investment fund manager the Premier Group has links to the Panama Papers, the worldwide scandal described as the “biggest ever blow” to the offshore world.

Defunct Premier Group links uncovered in Panama Papers

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Premier Group was set up in 2007 and focused on renewable and green investments, including the now-wound up New Earth Funds and the beleaguered Eco Resources Fund.

Four firms

The fund manager has been found in a search of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ (ICIJ) database on the Panama Papers, which saw 11.5 million documents leaked from law firm Mossack Fonseca in April 2016.

The papers reveal that the Isle of Man-based company is linked to four British Virgin Islands-based firms.

They are called Premier Group Distribution Inc, Premier International Distribution Inc, International Product Distribution Inc, and Protected Solutions Inc.

All four companies list BVI as their jurisdiction but share an address: The Premier Group (IOM) Limited, Ground Floor Office, 12-14 Ridgeway Street, Douglas, Isle of Man.

Directors

Jamie Sutton and Michael Richardson, both of whom were directors of Premier Group, are named as shareholders of Premier Group Distribution Inc.

Also named is Antony Parry, who resigned as a director of Eco-Resources Fund along with Sutton in December.

Sutton is named as a shareholder in International Product Distribution Inc and Premier International Distribution Inc, but not of Protected Solutions Inc.

Richardson and Parry are named as shareholders of Protected Solutions Inc.

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