Started by ilona trommler
Sunday 3 April 2016
OnpO0The
hidden wealth of some of the world’s most prominent leaders,
politicians and celebrities has been revealed by an unprecedented leak
of millions of documents that show the myriad ways in which the rich can
exploit secretive offshore tax regimes.
The Guardian, working with global partners, will set out details from the first tranche of what are being called “the Panama Papers”.
Journalists from more than 80 countries have been reviewing 11.5m files
leaked from the database of Mossack Fonseca, the world’s fourth biggest
offshore law firm.
Though
there is nothing unlawful about using offshore companies, the files
raise fundamental questions about the ethics of such tax havens – and
the revelations are likely to provoke urgent calls for reforms of a
system that critics say is arcane and open to abuse.
- Twelve national leaders are among 143
politicians, their families and close associates from around the world
known to have been using offshore tax havens.
- A $2bn trail leads all the way to Vladimir Putin. The
Russian president’s best friend – a cellist called Sergei Roldugin - is
at the centre of a scheme in which money from Russian state banks is
hidden offshore. Some of it ends up in a ski resort where in 2013
Putin’s daughter Katerina got married.
- Among national leaders with offshore
wealth are Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan’s prime minister; Ayad Allawi,
ex-interim prime minister and former vice-president of Iraq; Petro
Poroshenko, president of Ukraine; Alaa Mubarak, son of Egypt’s former
president; and the prime minister of Iceland, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson.
- In the UK, six members of the House of
Lords, three former Conservative MPs and dozens of donors to British
political parties have had offshore assets.
- The families of at least eight current
and former members of China’s supreme ruling body, the politburo, have
been found to have hidden wealth offshore.
- Twenty-three individuals who have had
sanctions imposed on them for supporting the regimes in North Korea,
Zimbabwe, Russia, Iran and Syria have been clients of Mossack Fonseca.
Their companies were harboured by the Seychelles, the British Virgin
Islands, Panama and other jurisdictions.
- A key member of Fifa’s powerful ethics
committee, which is supposed to be spearheading reform at world
football’s scandal-hit governing body, acted as a lawyer for individuals and companies recently charged with bribery and corruption.
- One leaked memorandum from a partner of
Mossack Fonseca said: “Ninety-five per cent of our work coincidentally
consists in selling vehicles to avoid taxes.”
The company has flatly denied any wrongdoing. It says it has acted beyond reproach for 40 years and that it has had robust due diligence procedures.
The
document leak comes from the records of the firm, which was founded in
1977. The information is near live, with the most recent records dating
from December 2015.
Three hundred and 70 reporters from 100 media organisations have spent a year analysing and verifying the documents.
The
prime minister set out his line in 2011 when he said: “We need to shine
a spotlight on who owns what and where the money is really flowing.”
Panama
Papers reporting team: Juliette Garside, Luke Harding, Holly Watt,
David Pegg, Helena Bengtsson, Simon Bowers, Owen Gibson and Nick Hopkins
Governments across the world began investigating possible financial wrongdoing by the rich and powerful on Monday after a leak of four decades of documents from a Panamanian law firm that specialized in setting up offshore companies.
The
"Panama Papers" revealed financial arrangements of global politicians
and public figures including friends of Russian President Vladimir
Putin, relatives of the prime ministers of Britain, Iceland and
Pakistan, and the president of Ukraine.
While
holding money in offshore companies is not illegal, journalists who
received the leaked documents said they could provide evidence of wealth
hidden for tax evasion, money laundering, sanctions busting, drug deals
or other crimes.
The
law firm, Mossack Fonseca, which says it has set up more than 240,000
offshore companies for clients around the globe, denied any wrongdoing
and called itself the victim of a campaign against privacy.
Panama Papers: biggest leak in history published by German newspaper
The Kremlin said the documents contained "nothing
concrete and nothing new" while a spokesman for British Prime Minister
David Cameron said his late father's reported links to an offshore
company were a "private matter."
Financial prosecutors in France announced the opening of a preliminary investigation for aggravated tax fraud.
Germany would also “pick up the ball” in the case, a Finance Ministry spokesman said on Monday.
Financial market watchdog Bafin is looking into the matter, said a
source close to the regulator, which reports to the ministry.
Australia,
Austria, Sweden and the Netherlands were among other countries which
said they had begun investigating the allegations based on more than
11.5 million documents. Banks came under the spotlight over allegations
that they helped clients hide their wealth offshore.
A
White House spokesman said that while he had no specific comment on the
leaked papers, "greater transparency allows us to root out corruption."
The
documents, covering a period from 1977 until last December, were leaked
to more than 100 news organizations around the world, cooperating with
the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a
Washington, D.C.-based network.
"I
think the leak will prove to be probably the biggest blow the offshore
world has ever taken because of the extent of the documents," ICIJ director Gerard Ryle said.
Government leaders around the world responded to the leaks on Monday with denials or declining comment.
Pakistan
denied any wrongdoing by the family of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
after his daughter and son were linked to offshore companies.
Ukrainian
President Petro Poroshenko defended his commitment to transparency
after lawmakers called for an investigation into allegations in the
documents that he had used an offshore firm to avoid tax. Poroshenko
purportedly moved his confectionery business, Roshen, to the British
Virgin Islands in August 2014 as fighting between Ukraine and
pro-Russian separatists peaked. source
Globalist Politicians outed as hypocritical Limo-Corporatists.
Go Figure...
 We’ve
been waiting to write an outline regarding the “Panama Papers”, because
one of the more interesting aspects in the distribution is
how the sources within the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung refused to share the massive file of information with the New York Times.
- Twelve national leaders are among 143
politicians, their families and close associates from around the world
known to have been using offshore tax havens.
- A $2bn trail leads all the way to Vladimir Putin. The
Russian president’s best friend – a cellist called Sergei Roldugin – is
at the centre of a scheme in which money from Russian state banks is
hidden offshore. Some of it ends up in a ski resort where in 2013
Putin’s daughter Katerina got married.
- Among national leaders with offshore
wealth are Nawaz Sharif, Pakistan’s prime minister; Ayad Allawi,
ex-interim prime minister and former vice-president of Iraq; Petro
Poroshenko, president of Ukraine; Alaa Mubarak, son of Egypt’s former
president; and the prime minister of Iceland, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson.
- In the UK, six members of the House of
Lords, three former Conservative MPs and dozens of donors to British
political parties have had offshore assets.
- The families of at least eight current
and former members of China’s supreme ruling body, the politburo, have
been found to have hidden wealth offshore.
- Twenty-three individuals who have had
sanctions imposed on them for supporting the regimes in North Korea,
Zimbabwe, Russia, Iran and Syria have been clients of Mossack Fonseca.
Their companies were harboured by the Seychelles, the British Virgin
Islands, Panama and other jurisdictions.
- A key member of Fifa’s powerful ethics
committee, which is supposed to be spearheading reform at world
football’s scandal-hit governing body, acted as a lawyer for individuals and companies recently charged with bribery and corruption.
- One leaked memorandum from a partner of
Mossack Fonseca said: “Ninety-five per cent of our work coincidentally
consists in selling vehicles to avoid taxes.” (read more)
Eventually the New York Times was reduced to writing a story based on other news reports and you can see the NYT outline HERE.
Send these post to your email groups and friends. Like us on
Facebook
|
No comments:
Post a Comment