Panama leaks is a set of 11.5 million confidential documents; which includes emails, bank statements, contracts and passport scans. These critical documents contain information of 214,000 offshore companies.
The files were leaked from the database of Mossack Fonseca, the company known to be the fourth biggest offshore law firm. Upon the leak, these documents highlighted how the rich and wealthy hide their assets from the public. A total of 140 offshore companies have ties to the public officials, politicians and their families. Amongst other major leaks of confidential documents which took place in the past; this is the biggest revelation.
What is Panama leaks – reality revealed
Following are the revelations that these papers made:
A total of 12 national leaders were named amongst the 143 politicians and their close accomplice. Petro Poroshenko (President of Ukraine), Nawaz Shareef (Prime minister of Pakistan) and Alaa Mubarak(son of ex-president of Egypt) are the names of a few prominent national leaders that were named in these papers.
$2bn trails was directed towards the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
Three former conservative MPs of British political parties have been listed to own offshore companies.
A controversial memorandum from one of the partners of Mossack Fonseca said that 95% of our work is to sell vehicles, just to avoid taxes.
One of the major member of Fifa’s ethics committee operated as a lawyer for companies that were charged with the cases of bribery and corruption.
Victim celebrities named in the Panama leaks
Jackie Chan and his son Jaycee – Forbes estimates the total worth of Jackie Chan, who is 61, to be around $350 million. The leaks tells us that he possesses a minimum of 6 companies which were managed through Mossack Fonseca. However, the same leaks also assures that he never used those companies for illegal purposes.
Simon Cowell – Cowell, known to be the judge of the American Idol contest is a sole shareholder of two British Virgin Islands. The companies owned by Cowell were set up when he was looking for buying land in Barbados. At the moment, these companies are inactive.
David Geffen – With a net worth of $6.8 billion, he is the starter of Geffen records and the co-founder of the Dreamworks. A record of the contract leaked shows that Geffen Pelorus, a 377 foot-long yacht was sold to the Panamian shell which was created by the firm
Stanley Kubrick’s family – After the death of the Stanley Kubrick, the estate have established trusts and companies. These companies and trust are owned by his daughters and step daughters. Even though his daughters are dead, but they were trustees of the trusts located in the Cayman Islands.
Pedro Almodovar – Known for the direction of the movie off “Talk to her”, the brother of the Oscar winning writer was mentioned in the leaks. Augustin (brother of Pedro) said in a Spanish newspaper that he created an offshore company, Glen Valley Corporation. The company was later closed in 1994.
Nick Faldo – Considered as the best golfer of his generation, three time British Open champion was also named in the list of celebrities mentioned in the leaks. The leaks claim that Faldo owned Blenhim Limited from 2006 to 2008. Faldo was later knighted by the Queen Elizabeth in 2009.
Micheline Roquebrune – Wife of the actor Sean Connery, was named as one of the shareholder of the Blue Cedar Investment Limited. The couple is notably known for the tax exiles and are currently facing tax fraud charges in Spain.
Lionel Messi – The Barcelona forward, who is a 3-time Ballon d’or holder is already facing charges against tax evasion. The Panama papers named him and his father to be charged with 3 tax fraud cases which might end them up in jail for 2 years, if they are found guilty.
Robert Louis-Dreyfus – He is the second cousin of actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus, was the CEO of Adidas. Robert name was amongst the well-known celebrities that were mentioned in the leaks. He took his last breath in 2009. He was also one of the key shareholders of Olympique de Marsielle.
Jurgen Wolff – He is a well-known writer who become famous for his sitcoms like Family ties. Wolff is linked to the Baskerwill Foundation, related to which there is very limited amount of information available online. Wolff is also linked with Moonjade Capital Inc.
Panama Leaks is surely the biggest controversy of the year 2016 so far. Let us see how it gets settled,
Wishes,
About Nida Zaidi
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