Panama Papers: search in Geneva to get hold of the Modigliani – Le Figaro

The Geneva prosecutor’s office launched April 8 a search of the Free Ports of the Swiss city, in search of a painting by the Italian master who was robbed by the Nazis and whose owner’s name would be in the papers from the Panamanian law firm.

Two days after opening unsolicited inquiries for “to audit” in connection with the revelations of Panama Papers, the floor of the Geneva justice court took action. Friday, April 8 morning, the prosecutor Claudio Mascotto conducted a search on the website of the Free Ports of the Swiss city, in the premises of the works of art storage company Rodolphe Haller, reports Time .

According to the daily’s information, the prosecutor is interested particularly Modigliani painting the man sitting leaning on a cane , which was stolen Nazi Oscar Stettiner, a Jewish art collector who fled Paris in 1939. the revelations of Panama Papers have finally allowed to put a name to the current owner of the work.

It would be the multibillion Nahmad family, very famous in the market of world art, which most of his collection, estimated at 4,500 rooms including 300 Picasso, is stored in the Free Ports Geneva (space exempt from customs and VAT). While so far the Nahmad had claimed that the table does not belong to them and that is the property of International Art Center (IAC), an offshore company, the Panama Papers case has revealed that the shareholders IAC are none other than the Nahmad themselves.

First disappeared during World War II, the table has resurfaced in 1996 – some 50 years later – at an auction at Christie’s. IAC was then acquired for 3.2 million US dollars. Today, The man sitting leaning on a cane is estimated at $ 25 million (€ 22 million).

If the real owner of the painting was a mystery until these revelations, the presence of the work for Ports francs was known for its long, reminds Time . Rodolphe Haller company had already told the US court that she was storing on behalf of IAC. An informed source also said that “the picture came out four or five times frank Ports to be shown in public exhibitions.”