Algerian minister's offshore activities reportedly frozen

Panama City skyline is seen at sunset in Panama, Monday, April 4, 2016. Panama's president says his government will cooperate "vigorously" with any judicial investigation arising from the leak of a vast trove of information on the offshore financial dealings of the world's rich and famous. An international coalition of media outlets Sunday published investigations it said stemmed from the leak of 115 million records kept by the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca on behalf of clients. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco) (The Associated Press)

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A man looks at a newsstand with a copy of the day's Global Times displayed on a basket in Beijing, China, Tuesday, April 5, 2016. The nationalistic tabloid Global Times published an editorial saying an unidentified "powerful force" was behind the documents leaked from a Panama-based law firm that name relatives of current and retired Chinese politicians, including President Xi Jinping, as owning offshore companies. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) (The Associated Press)

People gather to demonstrate against Iceland's prime minister, in Reykjavik on Monday April 4, 2016. Iceland's prime minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson insisted Monday he would not resign after documents leaked in a media investigation allegedly link him to an offshore company that could represent a serious conflict of interest, according to information leaked from a Panamanian law firm at the center of an international tax evasion scheme. (AP Photo/Brynjar Gunnarsson) (The Associated Press)

ALGIERS, Algeria – A company that manages the finances of Algeria's industry minister says he's linked to an offshore firm created in Panama, but says its activities are frozen while he's in government.

The existence of the Panamanian company was revealed amid the leak of thousands of names of people who conducted offshore financial activity via a Panamanian law firm.

Abdessalam Bouchouareb was among them. French newspaper Le Monde reported he runs a Panamanian company called Royal Arrival Corp., prompting accusations he is hiding assets abroad and evading taxes.

Reached by The Associated Press, Bouchouareb declined to comment.

His Luxembourg-based financial management company, CEC, says it created Royal Arrival Corp. to manage Bouchouareb's assets, but when the minister learned about the new company, he ordered its activities frozen while he's in government.