The documents were reportedly leaked from Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonesca, via an unidentified source by German Daily, Sueddeutsche Zeitung and shared with media worldwide by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The persons in the list include some notable political leaders like Russian President, Vladmir Putin, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, President of Argentina, Iceland’s Prime Minister including the King of Saudi Arabia. This list also includes 500 Indians, among them are notable Bollywood Actors, Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan. ICIJ said that the law firms leaked inner files holds information on 214,488 offshore organizations linked to people in more than 200 countries including territories. It claimed that it would announce the full list of companies and people linked to them in the early of the next month. Mossack Fonseca is the world’s fourth biggest provider of offshore services which include incorporating companies in offshore jurisdictions like British Virgin Island. It manages offshore firms for a annually fee. It’s other service include wealth management. It has acted for about 300,000 companies. Nearly 11.5 million documents and 2.6 terabytes of information were taken from Mossack Fonseca’s internal database. This list includes some well known figures, so it is likely to create ruckus across the world. The documents leaked the holdings of 12 present and late world leaders, it also revealed the hidden financial dealing of 128 politicians and officials from across the world. The documents also revealed the names of other political leaders, Hosni Mubarak, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi [Deceased] and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Now this question may have popped in your mind that “So, what is the importance of this leak”, its answer is not that complicated instead it is that how offshore tax havens can be utilized by rich and famous even if the protection is in their countries. Moreover, it also shows that how notable people from the world colluded with banks to create it difficult to spot the companies. The Panama government has affirmed to “vigorously cooperate” with any legal investigation that may be launched aftermath of the “Panama Papers” data leak.
