A massive leak of millions of documents has exposed the secret offshore financial arrangements of the world's rich and powerful, including billionaires, political leaders, celebrities, sports stars, and public officials.
A massive leak of millions of documents has exposed the secret offshore financial arrangements of the world's rich and powerful, including billionaires, political leaders, celebrities, sports stars, and public officials.
Launching today, The Pandora Papers is a major international investigation by dozens of media outlets including the New Zealand Herald that reveals how wealthy elites used complex offshore structures – including New Zealand-based trusts – to shelter assets and move money around the globe.
Among the prominent figures whose financial arrangements have been exposed are 35 country leaders including the King of Jordan, around 330 politicians and high-level public officials, and 133 billionaires.
Believed to be the biggest data leak in history, the Pandora Papers will intensify international debate about the enormous scale of offshore finance at a time of rising concern about economic inequality.
While it is not illegal to use offshore entities to manage wealth, critics say they allow the super-rich to obscure the true extent of their holdings which reduces the amount of tax governments collect. In some instances, they are used to conceal the proceeds of corruption or criminal activity.
The leak will also bring renewed scrutiny to New Zealand's small but significant role in the offshore industry, which was exposed by an earlier major leak, the Panama Papers, in 2016.
The Pandora Papers began when an anonymous source shared 2.94 terabytes of confidential financial files with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a non-profit network of investigative reporters based in Washington DC.
Provided in several batches over months, the vast collection of data contained nearly 12 million documents from 14 service providers that set up and manage companies and trusts in low-tax jurisdictions around the world, including New Zealand.
To analyse the enormous trove of documents, the ICIJ brought together more than 600 journalists from around 150 media outlets across the globe, including the BBC, the Guardian, the Washington Post, and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
https://www.newstalkzb.co.nz/news/world/pandora-papers-massive-leak-exposes-offshore-assets-of-world-leaders-billionaires-and-other-powerful-figures/?fbclid=IwAR3vKC1oabXlpprp_X_dfE0Idbc_xbRKwlRPLRWQEYTNTLnoav846mQg5ek