Tag: Pandora Papers

The secret deals and hidden assets of some of the world’s richest and most powerful people have been revealed in the biggest trove of leaked offshore data in history.

Branded the Pandora papers, the cache includes 11.9m files from companies hired by wealthy clients to create offshore structures and trusts in tax havens such as Panama, Dubai, Monaco, Switzerland and the Cayman Islands.

They expose the secret offshore affairs of 35 world leaders, including current and former presidents, prime ministers and heads of state. They also shine a light on the secret finances of more than 300 other public officials such as government ministers, judges, mayors and military generals in more than 90 countries.

The world reacts after secret documents show how the elite shield their riches

By Kevin Schaul, Artur Galocha, Greg Miller, Debbie Cenziper, Peter Whoriskey, Ashlyn Still, Aaron Gregg, Isabelle Khurshudyan and María Luisa Paúl
Oct 4 2021
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/10/03/pandora-papers-investigation-reaction/>

On Sunday, The Washington Post published the first in a series of stories based on more than 11.9 million documents that expose a secretive financial universe that benefits the wealthy and powerful.
The vast trove of documents, known as the Pandora Papers, was obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists(ICIJ). The Washington Post collaborated on the investigation, which involved more than 600 journalists in 117 countries and territories, the largest ever organized by the ICIJ.

The investigation exposes the offshore system that government leaders, billionaires and criminals often use to hide their assets. For an explanation of how offshore systems work and why people choose to hold their money in these companies, read our overview.

In a similar but narrower 2016 ICIJ investigation known as the Panama Papers, documents from an offshore financial services provider in Panama revealed hidden wealth that ignited protests in several countries, forcing two world leaders from power. The Pandora Papers probe is based on documents from 14 providers instead of one.

Here’s what we know from our collective reporting

• The files in the Pandora Papers detail the activities of nearly 29,000 offshore accounts.
• Among them are more than 130 people listed as billionaires by Forbes magazine. U.S. states have become central to the global offshore system.
• Leaders of countries on five continents use the offshore system, as well as 14 current heads of state.

VIDEO – Many of leaders who promised to fight corruption are themselves knee-deep in it – Richard Wolff

A global treasure hunt leads to an indicted art dealer’s offshore trusts – and the Met: The records reveal how a notorious art dealer, Douglas Latchford, and his family set up trusts in tax havens shortly after U.S. investigators began linking him to looted Cambodian artifacts. The Post and its ICIJ partners launched a hunt for antiquities that Latchford and his associates are suspected of selling and examined how offshore companies are used to conceal wrongdoing in the global art trade. Although some museums have returned Cambodian antiquities in years past, dozens tied to the indicted dealer remain in prominent collections, including at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City and the British Museum in London. These museums and others said that they take many precautions to ensure the items they acquire weren’t stolen, and that standards for provenance have changed over the years.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2021/10/03/takeaways-pandora-papers/