Enormous document leak exposes offshore accounts of world leaders

[Geee]

The Hill:

A massive leak of more than 11.5 million documents exposed the offshore accounts of current and former world leaders, The Center for Public Integrity reported Sunday.

 

The investigation of the files, known as the Panama Papers, was published Sunday by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

 

The investigation "exposes a cast of characters who use offshore companies to facilitate bribery, arms deals, tax evasion, financial fraud and drug trafficking," according to the website.

"Behind the email chains, invoices and documents that make up the Panama Papers are often unseen victims of wrongdoing enabled by this shadowy industry."

The report exposes hidden information about how banks and lawyers hide dealings with people such as prime ministers, plutocrats and criminals.

[Valin]

Giant Leak of Offshore Financial Records Exposes Global Array of Crime and Corruption

 

in this story

Files reveal the offshore holdings of 140 politicians and public officials from around the world

Current and former world leaders in the data include prime ministers of Iceland and Pakistan, the president of Ukraine, and the king of Saudi Arabia

More than 214,000 offshore entities appear in the leak, connected to people in more than 200 countries and territories

Major banks have driven the creation of hard-to-trace companies in offshore havens

[Valin]

Age of Awkward Revelation Stigmatizes Corrupt Politicians
Austin Bay
April 5, 2016

 

A sophisticated global sewer system of law firms and banks located in accommodating locales serves the dirty financial demands of corrupt political leaders and their cronies.

 

The so-called Panama Papers, obtained via leak by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, provide an astonishingly detailed look at this mucky system. The ICIJ is a Washington-based non-profit organization that links some 200 investigative journalists worldwide. The scandal's instant name deliberately echoes the Vietnam-era's Pentagon Papers. That leaked trove provided shocking revelations, to include war-related lies peddled by the Johnson Administration.

 

(Snip)

 

Such awkward revelations. Yes, crooked politicians worldwide -- many of them staunch socialists, government interventionists and populists! -- filch millions of dollars, billions in some cases, via graft, extortion, bribery or outright theft. Then they stash their dirty money in hidden bank accounts and trusts.

 

(Snip)

 

Exposing the corruption is worth it. Corruption undermines genuine economic progress. Cronyism destroys free markets.

 

(Snip)

 

Authoritarians will still attempt to limit access. China has tried to curb Internet dissemination of the revelations. The ICIJ reports family members of several "current or former members" Communist China's Politburo Standing Committee used Mossack Fonseca to create offshore companies. "They include (current) President Xi's brother-in-law..." Ouch.

 

It is likely that many people who utilized the talents of Mossack Fonseca didn't use its tentacles -- meaning they committed no crime. There are legitimate reasons to have offshore accounts, but in a mass data dump the crimes of the crooked mar the reputations of the legitimate. The hard lesson here is to work with firms that don't have sewer clients.

 

(Snip)

[Geee]

A WORD ABOUT THE PANAMA PAPERS

 

The so-called Panama Papers have made a big splash in the news this week. The New York Times backgrounder on the Papers is here. Yesterday the Panama Papers led to the resignation of Iceland’s prime minister.

 

A knowledgable reader writes to explain that the Papers revolve around shell companies, which are a Panama specialty, and predicts that there will be disclosures with serious consequences for the people who are exposed in the leaks. This post is adapted from our reader’s message.

 

The impact of the Panama Papers is probably going to be biggest on people like Iceland’s prime minister — those who are denominated “Politically Exposed Persons” in the money laundering world. PEPs, our reader adds, are a category of individuals — foreign heads of state, their family members, and other ranking officeholders occupying significant positions in government placing them at risk for bribery or corruption.

 

Financial institutions are generally required to report suspicious transactions involving PEPs. To make sure that suspicious transaction reports get filed, services compile the names of the world’s PEPs and sell this information to the financial institutions, but shell companies can prevent or complicate the filing of reports by obfuscating the identity or interest of the PEP.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2016/04/a-word-about-the-panama-papers.php