Panama Papers Opens Pandora’s Box
Recently a large number of confidential documents were leaked and it had led to the revelation about how rich powerful people are and the kind of techniques they use for hiding their wealth.
Approximately eleven million documents were leaked and some of the most secure companies such as Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. These document reveal how Fonseca has helped clients in laundering money and other methods he had used for avoiding tax. This company has been present for more than 40 years and it was never charged for any criminal activities. The leaked documents contain all the transactions for the past 40 years and this is supposed to be the biggest leak in years.
The president of France, Francois Hollande had hailed these revelation as documents that would stop people from committing fraud and increase the revenue from tax. The documents contain more than 12 heads of state information including the ones holding office currently. It is estimated that almost 60 people are linked to the present or former world leaders in the data.
Some of the big names included in these papers are the Prime Minister of Iceland who has been linked with his wife’s wealth. Some of the close associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin are not to be left behind. They have been noted to have been involved in money laundering schemes that adds up to billion-dollars. The transactions seemed to have taken place between a Russian bank Rossiya.
Also revealed is a suspected billion-dollar money-laundering ring that was run by a Russian bank. Everyone who is associated with this are close associates of President Putin.
Another wealthy client and a US millionaire Marianna Olszewski was given fake ownership to make transactions and hide money from the authorities. This is also a breach of the regulations that are designed by the anti-money laundering authorities.
Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak, former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad are some of the other names that have been included in the leaked papers.