New Delhi: Multiple media reports on Sunday said one of the biggest leaks of financial documents revealed how the elite hid their funds in offshore accounts to evade scrutiny at home. ‘The Pandora Papers’, as it is being called, reveals the secret wealth and dealings of politicians, billionaires, businessmen, film personalities and sportspersons from around the world, including many in India.
The Pandora Papers investigation involves 600 journalists from various news organizations around the world, including The Indian Express, and is based on more than 11.9 million documents that reveal the flow of money and other assets hidden in the offshore financial system.
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IE reported that the data was obtained two years ago by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), and the findings are being made public after a year-long investigation.
The documents expose relevant financial statements such as hidden wealth, tax avoidance, and other such practices by some of the richest and most powerful people in India and around the world.
The Indian Express, in its first report on The Pandora Papers, shared “distinctive patterns” emerging from the study of the documents.
Here are some key points:
- The leaked documents reveal several power players who may have played a role in dismantling the offshore system but chose to profit from “hiding assets in secret companies and trusts”.
“Confidential data of 14 offshore service providers, for example, shows offshore entities set up by a former revenue service officer, a former tax commissioner, a former senior army officer, a former top law officer, etc.,” the IE reported.
- The exposé mentions politically exposed individuals, adding that Indian PEPs include “former Members of Parliament; who have held public office in India; others who either do business in sensitive countries or do business in sensitive countries or Even those who have been booked earlier by Indian investigative agencies.
- According to IE, offshore entity owners, including those in India, have found ways to adapt when the much-talked-about Panama Papers highlighted their ways of arranging their offshore assets. “Indian businessmen are setting up a plethora of offshore trusts to segregate their assets to some extent and to separate their assets from creditors,” the report said.
- Those under investigation for economic offenses have built offshore networks in tax havens such as “Samoa, Belize or the Cook Islands”, as well as large tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands or Panama.
According to the report, many of these individuals/entities are on the radar of investigative agencies in India. Without naming such criminals, it was learned that some of them are in jail while many are out on bail.
- IE reports that thousands of crores of rupees owed to Indian banks have turned huge assets into a “maze of offshore companies”. It also indicated that an Indian economic offender, currently in jail, has purchased a Bombardier Challenger aircraft through its offshore unit.
Among other details on the offshore system, the report states that The Pandora Papers has highlighted offshore money machines as operating in every corner of the world, including some of the most powerful economies such as the United States.
Further revelations in the chain could potentially explore new approaches adopted by the rich and powerful to get away with practices such as tax evasion and money laundering.
Pandora Papers Scrutiny
According to the BBC, 600 journalists from 117 countries are investigating files and data obtained by the ICIJ in Washington DC.
It added that the ICIJ is working with over 140 media organizations on the “largest global investigation ever”.
The repository of confidential information is said to be the largest of its kind.
I am told by the reporting team that this is the largest offshore-finance rig—and journalism collaboration—* ever.*
They expose the deliberately concealed finances of 35 world leaders and 300+ other public officials in 90+ countries.
…and they are not finished. https://t.co/wbw4Gpx8jT
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) 3 October 2021
According to the BBC, the files mention more than 330 politicians from 90 countries who use secret offshore companies to hide their assets.
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