Panama Papers: How Jersey-based oil firm avoided taxes in Uganda

Revelations from the Panama Papers show how a company based in Jersey, a British crown dependency, attempted to avoid paying $400m (£280m) in Capital Gains Tax to the Ugandan government, writes BBC Africa's Rob Wilson.

In 2010, Heritage Oil and Gas Ltd realised it would be hit with a huge tax bill and started making efforts to avoid it by moving the country where the company was registered from the Bahamas to Mauritius, leaked emails obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and shared with the BBC show.

Mauritius has a double-tax agreement with Uganda, which in principle means companies pay tax in only one of the two countries.

Since Mauritius does not impose any Capital Gains Tax, charged on the sale of assets, this would mean Heritage reduces its bill to zero.

One of the emails written by an accountant acting on behalf of Heritage said the move to Mauritius would act as a "second line of defence" in efforts to "eliminate the potential tax charge imposed by the Ugandan authorities".

Elsewhere, he was more precise: "We are looking to re-domicile Heritage Oil and Gas Ltd. [HOGL] to Mauritius (primarily due to the double tax agreement between Uganda and Mauritius). HOGL… is due to complete the sale of an asset in Uganda within the next 11 days.

"Due to tax reasons emanating from Uganda, the directors have been advised by tax accountants to re-domicile HOGL to Mauritius from the Bahamas before completion."

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