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The Pandora Papers are 11.9 million leaked documents with 2.9 terabytes of data that the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) published beginning on 3 October 2021. [1] [2] [3] The leak exposed the secret offshore accounts of 35 world leaders, including current and former presidents, prime ministers, and heads of state as well as more than 100 business leaders, billionaires, and celebrities. The news organizations of the ICIJ described the document leak as their most expansive exposé of financial secrecy yet, containing documents, images, emails and spreadsheets from 14 financial service companies, in nations including Panama, Switzerland and the United Arab Emirates. [4] [5] The size of the leak surpassed their previous release of the Panama Papers in 2016, which had 11.5 million confidential documents and 2.6 terabytes of data. [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] The ICIJ said it is not identifying its source for the documents. [11]
The ICIJ estimates that the total global amount of money held offshore (outside the country where the money was made) is between US$5.6 trillion and US$32 trillion. [3] [12] [13]
In total, 35 current and former national leaders appear in the leak, alongside 400 public officials from nearly 100 countries and more than 100 billionaires. [14] Some of the activities were legal according to the country's tax laws. Some files were showing the date of 1970, but they were actually created between the years 1996 to 2020. The data included 130 billionaires listed by Forbes, over 330 politicians, celebrities, members of royal families and religious leaders. Among those names are former British prime minister Tony Blair, Chilean president Sebastián Piñera, former Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta, Montenegrin president Milo Đukanović, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Qatari emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the United Arab Emirates prime minister and Dubai ruler Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Gabonese president Ali Bongo Ondimba, Lebanese prime minister Najib Mikati, [15] Ecuadorian president Guillermo Lasso, family members of former Argentine president Mauricio Macri and his spin-doctor, Ecuadorian Jaime Durán Barba, [16] [17] [18] and Cypriot president Nicos Anastasiades. [19] [20] More than 100 billionaires, 29,000 offshore accounts, 30 current and former leaders, and 336 politicians [21] were named in the first leaks on 3 October 2021. [1] [11]
King Abdullah II of Jordan is one of the main figures named in the papers, with documents showing he had invested over US$100 million in property across the US and UK, including houses in Malibu, California, [22] Washington, D.C., London and Ascot. [23] [24] A UK company controlled by Cherie Blair was shown to have acquired a £6.45 million property in London by purchasing Romanstone International Limited, a British Virgin Islands company; had the property been acquired directly, £312,000 would have been payable in stamp duty. Tony Blair's name appears in a statement of joint income for the associated mortgage. [25]
The papers also reveal how an office block owned by Azerbaijan's ruling Aliyev family was sold to the Crown Estate, the UK sovereign's public estate, for £66 million in 2018, netting the Aliyevs a £31 million profit. Another office block worth £33 million was sold to the Aliyev family in 2009 and was gifted to the 11-year-old son of Azerbaijani president Ilham Aliyev, Heydar. [5] According to Las Vegas Sun, "Members of the inner circle of Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan are accused of hiding millions of dollars in wealth in secret companies or trusts". [26] Supporters of former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko accused his successor Zelensky, who came to power on an anti-corruption campaign, of tax evasion. [27] Elsewhere, close associates of Russian president Vladimir Putin, like Svetlana Krivonogikh and Gennady Timchenko, were revealed to have secret assets in Monaco, and Czech prime minister Andrej Babiš, who had campaigned on promises to crack down on corruption and tax evasion, did not declare the use of an offshore investment company in the purchase of eight properties, including two villas, in Mougins on the French Riviera for £12 million. [5] [28] [29] As a result of the Pandora Papers, more information emerged about Russia-linked, allegedly Kremlin-linked, donations to the Tories. [30] Uhuru Kenyatta was also mentioned, despite being quoted in 2018 as stating, "Every public servant's assets must be declared publicly so that people can question and ask –what is legitimate?" [11] Kenyatta and six members of his family have been linked to 13 offshore companies. The leaked list also includes transnational criminal organization leaders, such as Raffaele Amato, boss of the Amato-Pagano clan, a clan within the Camorra, dedicated to international drug trafficking. Amato used a shell company in the UK to buy land and real estate in Spain. [31] [32] [33]
Other global names mentioned include Shakira, who was incorporating new offshore entities while going on trial for tax evasion; model Claudia Schiffer; Indian cricket player Sachin Tendulkar; Indian billionaire Anil Ambani; fugitive diamantaire Nirav Modi’s sister Purvi Modi; Alexandre Cazes, the founder of the dark web site AlphaBay, used to deal in illegal drugs; Pakistani finance minister, Shaukat Fayaz Ahmed Tarin, and several of family members of Pakistan's top generals; and the CEO of Channel One Russia, Konstantin Ernst. Miguel Bosé, Pep Guardiola and Julio Iglesias are also named. [34] [35] [36] [37] [38] [39]
The leaked files come from 14 offshore service providers that help clients establish companies in secrecy jurisdictions. [40]
Provider | Records | Time period | Founding office location | Year founded |
---|---|---|---|---|
All About Offshore Limited | 270,328 | 2002–2019 | ![]() | 2007 |
Alemán, Cordero, Galindo & Lee | 2,185,783 | 1970–2019 | ![]() | 1985 |
Alpha Consulting Limited | 823,305 | 1996–2020 | ![]() | 2008 |
Asiaciti Trust Asia Limited | 1,800,650 | 1996–2019 | ![]() | 1978 |
CCS Trust Limited | 149,378 | 2001–2017 | ![]() | 2005 |
CIL Trust International | 459,476 | 1996–2019 | ![]() | 1994 |
Commence Overseas Limited | 8,661 | 2004–2017 | ![]() | 1992 |
Demetrios A. Demetriades LLC | 469,184 | 1993–2021 | ![]() | 1966 |
Fidelity Corporate Services Limited | 213,733 | 1998–2019 | ![]() | 2005 |
Glenn D. Godfrey and Company LLP | 189,907 | 1980–2019 | ![]() | 2003 |
Il Shin | 1,575,840 | 1996–2020 | ![]() | 2004 |
Overseas Management Company Inc | 190,477 | 1997–2020 | ![]() | 1961 |
SFM Corporate Services | 191,623 | 2000–2019 | ![]() ![]() | 2006 |
Trident Trust Company Limited | 3,375,331 | 1970–2019 | ![]() | 1986 |
An ICIJ report focused on the Panamanian law firm of Alemán, Cordero, Galindo & Lee, or Alcogal, saying it was the "law firm of the Latin American elite", [41] having created at least 14,000 shell companies and trusts in tax havens. Alcogal was thus mentioned more than any other offshore provider in the leaked documents. [42]
For the uncovering of the papers, the ICIJ worked with journalists from 91 media outlets [43] in 117 countries including news organizations such as The Washington Post , L'Espresso , Le Monde , El País , Süddeutsche Zeitung , the PBS program Frontline , the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, The Guardian , and the BBC’s Panorama . [11] [44]
The following media organisations worked on the investigation: [43]
Gerard Ryle is an Irish-Australian investigative reporter who has written on subjects including politics, financial and medical scandals, and police corruption. From 2011, he has been director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which has published research on international tax evasion and money laundering, citing the leaked Panama Papers, Paradise Papers and Pandora Papers.
Nirupama Deepika Rajapaksa is a Sri Lankan politician, a former member of the Parliament of Sri Lanka and a former deputy minister.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, Inc. (ICIJ), is an independent global network of 280 investigative journalists and over 140 media organizations spanning more than 100 countries. It is based in Washington, D.C., with personnel in Australia, France, Spain, Hungary, Serbia, Belgium and Ireland.
Mossack Fonseca & Co. was a Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider. At one time it was the world's fourth-largest provider of offshore financial services. From its establishment in 1977 until the publication of the Panama Papers in April 2016, the company remained mostly obscured from public attention, even though it was a major firm in the global offshore industry and acted for approximately 300,000 companies. Prior to its dissolution, the company employed roughly 600 staff members spread across 42 countries.
Offshore Leaks is a report disclosing details of 130,000 offshore accounts that came out in April 2013. Some observers have called it the biggest hit against international tax fraud of all times, although it has been pointed out that normal businesses may use the offshore legislation to ease formalities in international trade.
The Panama Papers are 11.5 million leaked documents published beginning April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. These documents, some dating back to the 1970s, were created by, and taken from, the former Panamanian offshore law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca, and compiled with similar leaks into a searchable database.
Ramón Fonseca Mora was a Panamanian novelist, lawyer and co-founder of Mossack Fonseca, a former law firm based in Panama with more than 40 offices worldwide. He was minister-counselor of Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela, and president of the Panameñista Party until he was dismissed in March 2016, due to the Brazilian Operation Car Wash anti-corruption probe.
This article lists some of the reactions and responses from countries and other official bodies regarding the leak of legal documents related to offshore tax havens from the law firm Mossack Fonseca, called the Panama Papers.
Alemán, Cordero, Galindo & Lee is a law firm based in Panama. Founded in 1985, the firm represents several multinational companies that operate in Panama and was chosen as the Central American law firm of the year by Chambers Global in 2007 as well as in 2013. Jaime Alemán Healy is the managing partner and founder. The firm has offices in several countries aside from Panama, including in tax havens such as The Bahamas, Belize, the British Virgin Islands, Cyprus, Hong Kong, Singapore, the Seychelles, and Switzerland. Other office locations include New Zealand, the United Arab Emirates, and Uruguay. The firm is affiliated with the international Meritas network.
Frederik Obermaier is a German investigative journalist for the Munich-based newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung, and author. Together with his colleague Bastian Obermayer in 2016 he initiated and coordinated the Panama Papers-revelations.
Blairmore Holdings, Inc. was an offshore investment company established by Ian Cameron, father of former British Prime Minister, David Cameron. Following the Panama Papers leak, it was discovered that Blairmore Holdings was a customer of Mossack Fonseca, a large Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider at the centre of an international scandal on tax havens, tax avoidance and corruption.
The Paradise Papers are a set of over 13.4 million confidential electronic documents relating to offshore investments that were leaked to the German reporters Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer, from the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. The newspaper shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, and a network of more than 380 journalists. Some of the details were made public on 5 November 2017 and stories are still being released.
The Panama Papers are 11.5 million leaked documents that detail financial and attorney-client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. The documents, some dating back to the 1970s, were created by and taken from, Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca, and were leaked in 2015 by an anonymous source.
The Panama Papers are 11.5 million leaked documents that detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. The documents, some dating back to the 1970s, were created by, and taken from, Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca, and were leaked in 2015 by an anonymous source.
The Panama Papers are 11.5 million leaked documents that detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. The documents, some dating back to the 1970s, were created by, and taken from, Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca, and were leaked in 2015 by an anonymous source.
The Panama Papers are 11.5 million leaked documents that detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. The files were uncovered and exposed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and other news organizations. The documents, some dating back to the 1970s, were created by, and taken from, Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca, and were leaked in 2015 by an anonymous source.
The Panama Papers are 11.5 million leaked documents that detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. The documents, some dating back to the 1970s, were created by, and taken from, Panamanian law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca, and were leaked in 2015 by an anonymous source.
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