Opposition politician Wayne Furbert helped to set up a company in Bermuda with the law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers leak while he was in Cabinet.

Mr Furbert was financial controller and a director of Mossfon Corporate Services (Bermuda) Limited — which was initially part-owned by Mossack Fonseca – for more than a decade.

He was involved with the company from its incorporation in 1995 until it was dissolved in 2006, according to records obtained from the Registrar of Companies.

There is no suggestion that the Hamilton West MP was helping to facilitate any illegal transactions, nor that there was anything unusual or untoward about the activities of the locally registered company.

Mossack Fonseca is a Panamanian law firm, described by international media as the world’s fourth biggest provider of offshore services, employing 600 staff in 42 countries.

The massive leak of 11.5 million documents by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists from the law firm’s database earlier this month has shone a light on the financial affairs of world leaders and other public figures but Bermuda has not featured prominently so far. Mr Furbert told The Royal Gazette last night that he never put any funds into Mossfon Bermuda and it “never made any money”.

“Any time they [Mossack Fonseca] wanted to send business to Bermuda, it was through that company,” he said. “If someone wanted to set up a company in Bermuda, then Mossfon Bermuda was the vehicle that they set it up through.”

He added: “It was peanuts. The fees [for setting up companies] were so low. It was just small work.”

Mr Furbert, an accountant, said the company offered corporate secretarial services to Mossack Fonseca clients here who wanted to set up offshore companies and trusts.

Customers here may have wanted, for example, to set up a company or a trust in another jurisdiction to hold US securities and, in doing so, they could legitimately avoid paying certain taxes in the United States.

Mr Furbert said: “People set up trusts all the time. It was a very small organisation that didn’t make very much money at all. They called it Mossack Fonseca Bermuda because it was a brand name.”

The backbencher said the driving force behind the company was a British trust lawyer called Robert Miller, who worked at Richards, Francis & Francis law firm. When he left the island, according to Mr Furbert, the business dwindled to almost nothing.

The records held in the archives of the Registrar of Companies show that Mossfon Corporate Services (Bermuda) was incorporated in July 1995 by Mr Furbert, Mr Miller and lawyers Arnold Francis and Edward Bailey.

The memorandum of association lists the company as having 12,000 shares valued at $1 each. Mr Furbert held 600 — or 5 per cent — of the shares.

The largest shareholder was a company called Ardon Management Services Limited — a subsidiary of Richards, Francis & Francis law firm — with 7,800 shares (65 per cent).

Mr Bailey and the late Mr Francis, from Richards, Francis & Francis, signed the memorandum, along with Mr Furbert.

Mr Miller was named as a separate shareholder with 1,800 — 15 per cent — of the shares. Mossfon Holdings held the final 15 per cent. The company gave its address as the Arango Orillac Building, East 54th Street, Panama City, Republic of Panama.

In 1995, the registered office of Mossfon Corporate Services was given as the Cedarpark Centre on Cedar Avenue, where Richards, Francis & Francis was also based.

In March 1996, Mr Francis and Mr Miller filed an annual return of shareholdings, which stated that the 12,000 shares in Mossfon Corporate Services (Bermuda) were now held entirely by Bermudians.

Over the years, the address of the registered office changed. In 1998, it moved to Parliament Street, under the auspices of the Cedar Trust Company, another subsidiary of Richards, Francis & Francis.

The Cedar Trust Company and the name Robert Miller have previously cropped up in a separate cache of leaked documents published by the ICIJ: the Offshore Leaks database in 2013.

Those leaks named Robert Miller as an officer of Cedar Trust and linked him with a number of offshore entities. There was no suggestion that Mr Miller broke the law or acted improperly.

In 2003, the annual return of shareholdings stated that Mossfon Corporate Services (Bermuda) was 85 per cent Bermudian-owned, with the directors being 66 per cent Bermudian. Mr Furbert and another director, whose name was not printed, signed the form.

Mr Furbert’s home address in Hamilton Parish was given as the registered office.

The last annual return of shareholders was filed by Mr Furbert on July 15, 2005, when he was again named as a director. The company was dissolved by the Registrar on August 18 the following year, on the basis that it was no longer operating.

Ardon Management Services had been dissolved in 2004.

Mr Furbert, who was community and cultural affairs minister for the United Bermuda Party when he helped set up Mossfon Bermuda, said he went to Panama to visit the offices of Mossack Fonseca during the late 1990s to see how its operation worked.

But he said though there were high hopes for Mossfon Bermuda, it didn’t pan out into a profitable business. He continued filing paperwork with the Registrar of Companies even when the firm was no longer operating on the basis that he might revive it.

“But it didn’t work out so I just let it die,” he said.

Mr Furbert was in Cabinet until 1998, became UBP leader in 2006 and resigned in 2007, before quitting the party in 2008. He was an independent MP before joining the Progressive Labour Party in 2010.

He has voluntarily declared his financial interests since 2008 in the register for parliamentarians held at the House of Assembly. The register was introduced in 1998 but sat dormant for years.

Mr Furbert said there were no hidden owners of Mossfon Bermuda and the names listed on the publicly available papers at the Registrar of Companies were the beneficial owners.

Mr Bailey told this newspaper that though his signature was on the incorporation document he didn’t remember Mossfon Bermuda, as he was head of litigation at Richards, Francis & Francis, and not involved in trust law.

“If I can’t remember it, it certainly didn’t have any great significance,” he said. “My function with Richards, Francis & Francis was really with the litigation. My signature being on there was probably more by accident than by design.”