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Pandora Papers: Does the Global Britain Facilitate Corruption? (Part I)

  • Ruqiya Anwar Ruqiya Anwar
  • Source: Al Mayadeen
  • 7 Oct 2021 14:12
  • 16 Shares
4 Min Read

The Pandora Papers reveal how governmental officials, organized crime figures, and businesses utilize corporations in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), the UK's largest offshore financial center, to conceal their names and activities.

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  • Pandora Papers: Does the Global Britain Facilitate Corruption?   (Part-I)

The Pandora Papers revealed how politicians, corporate tycoons, and other public officials use off-shore tax havens to hide their wealth. More than 600 journalists from 150 media outlets in 117 countries are involved in the Pandora Papers investigation, making it the world's largest-ever journalistic collaboration. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists conducted the inquiry.

This financial leak uncovers the secrets of the powerful world leaders and super-rich. This investigation has named dozens of current and former international leaders. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which received a trove of 11.9 million classified data, is facilitating the Pandora Papers initiative.

The reporters studied and sorted data for two years, contextualizing information, chasing down sources, and analyzing public records and other papers. So far, the financial secrets of at least 35 current and former world leaders, as well as more than 330 government officials from 91 countries have been disclosed. The records were taken from 14 offshore services firms around the world that set up shell corporations and other offshore entities for clients, many of whom were wealthy politicians, executives, and criminals looking to conceal their financial dealings.

Additionally, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) stated that in an era of growing authoritarianism and inequality “the Pandora Papers provides an unequaled perspective on how money and power operate in the 21st century, and how the rule of law has been bent and broken around the world by a system of financial secrecy enabled by the US and other wealthy nations.”

The Pandora Papers expose the finances of much more foreign leaders and public officials than the Panama Papers did, as well as providing more than twice as much information regarding offshore company ownership. Overall, this investigation reveals “the real owners of almost 29,000 offshore corporations, with the largest contingents hailing from Russia, the United Kingdom, Argentina, China, and Brazil” (Olawoyin & Ibekwe, 2021).

Related News

The Pandora Papers: World’s Elite Uncovered, Great Britain Needs Transparency (Part II)

In particular, the documents also referenced a number of trusts in the US, such as South Dakota, Florida, and Delaware, where billionaires might hide their assets. Robert F. Smith, a private equity billionaire, and his financier Robert Brockman were among the US billionaires identified in the Pandora Papers. Especially, the offshore financial dealings of some of the world's most powerful politicians have been exposed. They include Jordan's King Abdullah II, who created a real estate empire in London and Washington. The documents also reveal the financial wrongdoings of Andrej Babi, the Czech Republic's Prime Minister, and Nicos Anastasiades, the president of Cyprus. The leak also names Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. The Pandora papers also shed a light on the offshore system as a whole.

The leaked papers graphically reveal London's major coordinating role in the shadowy offshore sector. Wealth managers, law firms, company formation agencies, and accountants all have offices in the UK capital. All of them exist to serve their ultra-wealthy clientele. Many are foreign-born tycoons with “non-domicile” status, which means they don't have to pay taxes on their international holdings (Guardian, 2021).

It is also embarrassing for the United Kingdom. Money laundering and foreign wealth have long been associated with London real estate. There are always more offshore tax havens where the wealthy and powerful may hide their money and avoid paying taxes. Despite the fact that laws have been enacted to combat the amount of illicit wealth that passes through London's pricey townhouses, the research reveals that little has changed (Ollie, 2021).

A massive leak of corporate information has once again highlighted Global Britain's persistent position as a worldwide corruption facilitator, and it should serve as a wake-up call for the government to bolster its anti-dirty money defenses. Consequently, the Pandora Papers reveal how governmental officials, organized crime figures, and businesses utilize corporations in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), the UK's largest offshore financial center, to conceal their names and activities. (Transparency International, 2021).

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Al Mayadeen’s editorial stance.
  • Pandora Papers
  • UK
  • Pandora Leaks
  • Britian
Ruqiya Anwar

Ruqiya Anwar

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