The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has released the Pandora Papers, the largest trove of leaked offshore data, accusing world leaders, businessmen, and celebrities of engaging in offshore activities.
The consortium, which receives general support funding from the Open Society Foundations, founded by Hungarian-American billionaire George Soros, claims that the just-published documents represent “the most expansive exposé of financial secrecy yet”.
According to the ICIJ, the investigation involved more than 650 journalists from 117 countries. It reportedly includes 11.9 million leaked files “covering every corner of the globe”.
The files suggested that the US is “the leading tax haven” in the world. According to the report, the state of South Dakota alone is currently sheltering billions of dollars in wealth linked to people who have been accused of financial crimes.
“There’s never been anything on this scale and it shows the reality of what offshore companies can offer to help people hide dodgy cash or avoid tax”, Fergus Shiel from the ICIJ said.
The explosive findings of the international probe were published five years after the ICIJ’s Panama Papers, which cited documents allegedly belonging to Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca to assert that some national leaders and their confidants had used offshore banking to conceal their fortunes.
The investigators claim they have discovered secret dealings and hidden assets of around 35 current and former national leaders and over 300 high-ranking officials.
At the same time, the authenticity of the data has not been confirmed, with Mossack Fonseca refusing to do so and accusing the journalists of having committed a crime.
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