Latest News
Back
Document:
Panama Papers Leak: The Story Yet Revealed
The Pandora Papers Leak: the story yet revealed
Pandora Papers is the leak of hidden offshore financial information of some of the world’s most influential people. It refers to millions of documents containing these hidden financial secrets of many former and current world leaders, politicians, celebrities, and public officials. This document was unearthed by ICIJ or the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The ICIJ is currently working with 140 different media groups to reveal these papers.
What does it contain?
It contains all the hidden financial information of prominent people all around the world. The secret assets and investments made offshore are included in this document. It is said to be double of Paradise papers and double of Panama Papers. These papers are 12 million leaked documents from 14 global corporate companies. These corporates have set up almost 29,000 shell companies and private trusts offshore. These shell companies and trusts are set up offshore in tax havens. What are Tax Havens? Tax Havens are those countries that have less or no restriction on company incorporation, and reduced incorporation taxes, where it is easy to set up firms and the owner of the firm is difficult to identify. In conclusion, countries with no or reduced tax liability. Some examples are Switzerland, Cayman Islands, Singapore, etc.
Who are these people?
The Pandora Papers have a series of the world’s most influential people mentioned as the holders of these assets. Their financial secrets have been revealed among these million papers that are being continuously published. Some of these people are:
World leaders-
- Ruling Family of Qatar
- King of Jordan
- Czech Prime Minister
- Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta’s family who owned a chain of firms offshore for many decades
- Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair
- Ukraine’s President
- Members of Inner Circle of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan, e.g., the Finance Minister, the Minister for Water Resources, and many others
Other Influential People-
- Pop singer Shakira
- Football player Lionel Messi
- Jackie Chan
Indians-
Over 500 Indians have yet made it on the list of People mentioned in the Pandora Papers. Some of the prominent names are:
- Anil Ambani, chairman of the Reliance Group. The papers showed that he and his representative owned 18 offshore companies
- Former cricket captain Sachin Tendulkar and some of his family members, who owned an offshore company called SAAS International Limited.
- Jackie Shroff, a famous Bollywood actor, was found to be the prime beneficiary of a trust in New Zealand and many more prominent names have been uncovered in these files.
What is the Government doing?
The Centre has directed the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to lead an investigation in regards to the Pandora Paper Leak. This investigative unit will have a representative from the CBDT, the RBI, and Financial Intelligence Unit. The Ministry of Finance said, “the relevant authorities will undertake investigation and appropriate actions will be taken as per the law”. The Government has also mentioned that it will “proactively engage with foreign jurisdiction” to uncover more of the information in regards to the names mentioned.
Document:
