SHADOWY companies in a notorious tax haven have snapped up over £20million of land and property across Scotland, the Sunday Herald can reveal.

Firms registered in Panama own sprawling estates, flats, commercial developments and even a tiny plot of land worth £2,500.

However, it is impossible to locate the real owners of the holdings due to the Central American country’s financial secrecy.

Andy Wightman, a Scottish Greens MSP and land campaigner, said: “Unknown persons are hiding behind the corporate veil of Panamanian companies.”

A coalition of news organisation recently unveiled the biggest leak in history in the form of 11.5million files from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca.

The so-called Panama Papers revealed how wealthy individuals and figures linked to world leaders used companies to squirrel away billions of pounds into tax havens.

In the wake of the release of the Panama Papers, the Sunday Herald revealed that around 60,000 acres of land is owned in Scotland by firms located in the tax haven.

However, the revelations were just a snapshot of the properties held across the country.

A new dataset produced by Registers of Scotland (ROS) - a government agency - provides details of all entries in the Land Register of Panamanian firms owning chunks of Scotland.

Read more: Offshore firms buying up Scottish football including Celtic, Rangers, Dundee and Dumbarton

The spreadsheet lists the companies behind 23 holdings spanning from the Borders and the Highlands, as well as the addresses of the properties purchased.

We have also been able to establish Panama links to other properties outwith the official data produced by ROS.

There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by any of the firms, but the revelations have again raised questions about a lack of transparency in land ownership.

INVERNESS (defined as one of 34 ROS 'counties')

Ranita Management SA spent £7million in 2006 purchasing the Pitmain Estate near Kingussie – the most expensive buy in the dataset.

The 12,000 acre site has been described as an “all round sporting estate of uncompromising quality”, offering “first class driven grouse shooting over three beats”.

A property website also stated that the estate owner enjoys a heritable right to use Kingussie Golf Course.

Ranita has its registered office at 50 Third E Street in Panama City and lists the Morgan Y Morgan law as its “agent”.

Another firm, Compania Financiera Waterville SA, snapped up land in Dalwhinnie between 2007 and 2014 for £275,000. Its address is given as a PO Box in Panama’s Samuel Lewis Avenue.

PERTH

Similarly, Compania Financiera Waterville SA bought the 11,895 acre Camusericht estate for around £3.3million in 2003.

The same company purchased the 11,700 acre Dalnaspidal estate nearly three years later for £3.35m.

New Universal Properties Corp – also registered at a PO Box in the tax haven – bought 209 acres of land in Killin for nearly £1.1million in 2005.

GLASGOW

Nine properties in Scotland’s biggest city are owned by Panama-linked entities, according to the dataset.

In 2014, Alastor Consultants – incorporated in the tax haven and registered at the Omega Building in Panama City – bought two flats at 23 Ruthven Street in the city’s upmarket Hillhead district for £155,000 each.

In the same year, Mayfair Advisors Corp – registered at the same building as Alastor – bought a flat at the same address for an identical price.

Mayfair also bought two flats in 2013 at Vinicombe Street in the same well-heeled area of the city for £235,000 each.

In 2008, Palborn Overseas SA bought two properties in Govan’s Fairley Street – minutes from Ibrox stadium - for £540,000 apiece.

Palborn is registered 6740 miles away at an office block in Panama and a corporate register lists a legal firm as its “agent”.

According to the Land Register, Dolma Finance SA jointly purchased properties on Wilson Street and Hutcheson Street for £20,000 in 1984.

The firm also helped buy property on Glassford Street for around £73,800 between 1985 and 1986.

However, the Sunday Herald has established Dolma Finance owns other properties not included in the ROS dataset.

The firm jointly purchased commercial properties on Sauchiehall Street and Douglas Street for £927,000 in 1990.

Five years later, it became the owner of two holdings on the city’s sprawling Argyle Street for £693,256.

Dolma is registered at the High-Tech Plaza in Panama City.

ABERDEEN

In 2010, Draper Management INC bought a residential property for £95,000 in Mid Street in Cairnbulg, Fraserburgh.

The address listed on the Land Register for Draper was the Morgan Y Morgan law firm, which is based at 53 E Street Urbanizacion in Panama. No mortgage is listed on the property.

The firm’s “officers”, according to an internal companies database, are linked to hundreds of firms. Draper was incorporated in the same year as the purchase was pushed through.

In 2007, International Estates and General Investment INC bought a tiny piece of land near the Bridge of Don for £2,500. It is the smallest land holding purchased.

The firm has its registered office on the seventh floor of the Interseco Building at 10 Elvira Mendez Street in Panama, and was incorporated in 1977.

FIFE

In 2001, Purves INC bought a first floor property at Braehead House in Kirkcaldy for £115,000.

The exclusive development contains numerous properties and offers tenants use of a swimming pool and gym.

According to the Land Register, Purves was incorporated in the Bahamas and has its registered office at Balboa Plaza Buildings Office in Panama. The firm was created in the same month as the property was purchased.

SELKIRK

In 2005, Balshamill Sociedad Anonima bought Whytbank Tower in Caddenfoot, a village on the River Tweed, for £75,000.

The firm, which was “incorporated under the laws of Panama”, is registered at “PO Box 87-1317” in the tax haven.

STIRLING

In 2006, Radcliffe Holdings Inc purchased property on Drumbeg Loan near Killearn for £250,000. The firm was incorporated in Panama in 2003 and appears to have a range of paper officers.

WEST LOTHIAN

According to the dataset, Northern Property Investments INC owns property at Barclay Way – a modest residential street in Livingston. A taxi business is listed at the address. NPI INC is registered in Panama.

A firm with a similar name, Northern Property Investments Ltd, owns a residence in the town’s Braid Green and has an address in the British Virgin Islands.