In Sweden, those hiding taxes in especially large amounts may be sentenced for real imprisonment by court. With Mr Stigell, that’s what happened: in 2009, he was sentenced for 2.5 years. After appeals, he had to actually do 1.5 years of it.
So the Swedish state is yet to get its taxes and, according to Ms Lindqvist Sjöström, Mr Stigell’s arrears are currently at the Swedish executive agency Kronofogdemyndigheten. A citizen of Monaco, the man is probably keeping his money on his offshore-companies’ accounts.
An Internet search yielded several companies named Eurowind in England, Switzerland, Poland and elsewhere. Some are in operation, others not; meanwhile, many end up linked to firms registered in tax havens.
In 2012 tax debtors list by the newspaper Expressen, Mr Stigell ranked 12th; top debtor was Swedish «porn king» Berth Milton with 905 million kronor (€98m).
Comparing Estonian commercial register and the Swedish tax debtor top list, people other than Mr Stigell are found in both. Such as the timber businessman and horse racing giant Kurt Gösta Wijkström with Swedish tax arrears in 2011 amounting to 70 million kronor (€7.64m) who in December 2015 founded Export Holz Estonia in Pärnu. Unlike Mr Stigell, Mr Wijkström is not investing via Panama.
Neither do the Sõnajalg brothers, says Andres: «None of our companies has ever been linked to Panama. We deem this important to be underlined as we feel our competitors trying to label us with that.»