“The Pandora Papers is a leak of almost 12 million documents that reveals hidden wealth, tax avoidance and, in some cases, money laundering by some of the world’s rich and powerful.
More than 600 journalists in 117 countries have been trawling through the files from 14 sources for months, finding stories that are being published this week.
The data was obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in Washington DC, which has been working with more than 140 media organisations on its biggest ever global investigation.
BBC Panorama and the Guardian have led the investigation in the UK.
What has been uncovered?
The Pandora Papers leak includes 6.4 million documents, almost three million images, more than a million emails and almost half-a-million spreadsheets.
Stories revealed so far include:
- the prominent Tory donor who was involved in one of Europe’s biggest corruption scandals
- the King of Jordan’s £70m spending spree on properties in the UK and US through secretly-owned companies
- Azerbaijan’s leading family’s hidden involvement in property deals in the UK worth more than £400m
- the Czech prime minister’s failure to declare an offshore investment company used to purchase two French villas for £12m
- how the family of Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta’s secretly owned a network of offshore companies for decades
The files expose how some of the most powerful people in the world – including more than 330 politicians from 90 countries – use secret offshore companies to hide their wealth.” BBC
Comment: I am not impressed – so far. Are there really people out there in the big bad world who do not think that people with money seek to shield their financial transactions from public view? I suppose there are people with such delusion. But, tant pis pour eux. pl
Delaware is considered the most corrupt region on the planet. If one is not registering their company in Delaware they are doing it wrong. It’s easy too! Easier than getting a public library card.
There are more anonymous LLC than most realize. Most people think Delaware, Nevada, Wyoming, or New Mexico. About less than half of states do not require ownership discloser or an operating agreement submission to the state or post it on public records; they only require a registered agent or organizer. That can be anyone you nominate, your neighbor, your accountant, an online LLC filer, or most preferably an intimidating or powerful attorney. However, some will only allow if you reside in the state. I read somewhere most OGA proprietaries come from Missouri. Those rural farm judges likely provide ironclad privacy protection. Getting one there was just as easy as Delaware.
South Dakota is a big player, too. I think we had no idea how widespread this is…!
Laura Wilson
Some sovereign states make themselves attractive to investors and depositors through their laws and policies? Good! Good!
LW –
Russians at RT are dumping on South Dakota also. They noted that South Dakota’s ‘opaque financial system’ is as bad or worse than those Caribbean islands that also do money laundering.
But RT is of course pushing back hard against the Pandora Papers claim that Putin’s man, Konstantin Ernst, has hidden assets offshore.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10055975/Americas-wealthiest-not-listed-Pandora-Papers-Snowden-mocks-leak-lack-security.html
The massive US tax code is designed not only to be complex and large but also riddled with special exemptions that only a select few can access. The largest US corporations hardly pay any tax. Wall St hedge fund mavens are able to package all their income as carried interest which is labeled as capital gains in the tax code. Venture capitalist Peter Thiel managed to shelter over a billion dollars in a Roth IRA. Treatment of real-estate allows property developers like Trump to basically pay no income tax. Of course the use of foundations is well known.
Naturally all legal as the tax code is written with these entities in mind. That’s why simplification of the tax code never has any legs. The current system penalizes middle class wage earners and small businesses.
Well, ok, by 2030 they will own nothing and be happy too!
tant pis pour eux
I kind of feel the same way about Bilderberg/Davos/WEF – since WHEN didn’t the wealthiest exert power to protect their interests and profit even more? It’s a moot point, practically. The challenge is how to try to battle their tremendous influence when it comes to unfair/unwise policy.
Still, the Pandora Papers appeal to my prurient interest — I like finding out WHO may be hiding WHAT, although I suspect the published search results may be politically biased, given The Guardian/BBC involvement.
Like all archived data leaks. It’s an OSINT treasure trove.
https://www.theguardian.com/news/2021/oct/03/pandora-papers-reveal-hidden-wealth-vladimir-putin-inner-circle
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/financial-records-link-woman-rumored-to-be-in-a-clandestine-relationship-with-vladimir-putin-to-multimillion-dollar-apartment-in-monaco-report/ar-AAP60XD
akaPatience,
Yes, those aligned with “Progressivism” most likely escape scrutiny, at least anything of consequence. This was my first thought when considering these sources/co-conspirators. The Guardian? BBC? The International Consortium of Incurious “Journalists”? But of course.
Was the timing of this release
Plus the “coincidental “ picture
Of AOC posing in a tax the rich
Dress? Bidonittes say the programs
Will be paid for. Asking for a friend!
and unlike wikileaks they do not make any raw data available. how come no active powerful politician from leading western countries is ever exposed in these leaks? I am willing to be corrected if wrong, by example.
This is a whole smoke screen to cover for the ongoing Covid fiasco, with multiple young healthy strong people prejudiced already, including some sport stars around the world, plus children 13 years old dying from strokes…which has not ever been sawn in the whole history of humanity.
Then there are already videos of the children born from vaccinated mothers, some with big black eyes without any hint of white, and at tender two weeks raising their heads and directing sight to the cameras, at two months tryingv to stand up….
Also the vaccines seen at electronic microscope, showing every kind of kinda living stuff …
The same way we already knew that the rich people pay no taxes and moreover receive substantious government subsides, the same we know our governments did not want to vaccinate us against every existing virus out there so that to save us, less to save the elders…
They need this now because of things that are happening…We need our Nuremberg!
Some officials and media went ot the extent of equating the Radio de Mille Collines in demonizing inocent honest people at the risk of starting a masacre similar to that in Ruanda…
https://twitter.com/PedemonteEvelyn/status/1444442860418478084
Yet, curiously, there is no US oligarch or sports star there in those Pandora Papers…
With the current oil and gas crisis, the hackers are highly likely after Azerbaijan riches and need to occupy Jordan for whatever estrategic reason..
Funny
Total lack of American politically connected folk not included.
Clinton, Obama Bush crime families not included.
Recently Unz.com re-published a column by Pepe Escobar titled, “Eurasia takes shape: How the SCO just flipped the world order.”
https://www.unz.com/pescobar/eurasia-takes-shape-how-the-sco-just-flipped-the-world-order/
An accompanying [photoshopped] picture showed leaders of
Uzbekistan
Tajikstan
Pakistan
China
Iran
Russia
India
Khazakstan
Kyrgyzstan.
How close is the match between that list of the up-and-coming leaders of the world (and their likely allies who will break away from the US-dominated “rules-based order” and those exposed by Pandora?
Pandora Schmandora. Isn’t the ICIJ just a distribution channel for Anglo-American security state propaganda? The BBC (sigh) and Guardian (double sigh) and the biggest story is Putin associates’ hidden millions, what a surprise.
Wikileaks is for real leaks. This outfit is a cutout masquerading as investigative journalism.
https://wikispooks.com/wiki/International_Consortium_of_Investigative_Journalists
standard US security services ‘leak’? lots of people the administration doesnt like get exposed but no high profile Americans. If it’s in the Guardian it’s come from the intelligence services, pushed out via intermediaries. We get Putins name in the headlines yet he isn’t mentioned once in the papers (we saw the exact same with the Panama Papers) We want to see the stuff that wasn’t leaked implicating high profile senators and super rich Americans of all ilks, surely it’s only fair! This stuff really isn’t worth looking at beyond the obvious. The Integrity Initiative leaks on the other hand, much more worthy of a readers time.