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Selected quote: "The ICIJ findings include evidence that: - Offshore companies linked to the family of China's top leader, Xi Jinping, as well as Ukrainian Pr

Selected quote: "The ICIJ findings include evidence that: - Offshore companies linked to the family of China's top leader, Xi Jinping, as well as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who has positioned himself as a reformer in a country shaken by corruption scandals - 29 billionaires featured in Forbes Magazine's list of the world's 500 richest people - Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson and his wife secretly owned an offshore firm that held millions of dollars in Icelandic bank bonds during the country's financial crisis - Associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin secretly shuffled as much as $2 billion through banks and shadow companies - New details of offshore dealings by the late father of British Prime Minister David Cameron, a leader in the push for tax-haven reform - Offshore companies controlled by the Prime Minister of Pakistan, the King of Saudi Arabia and the children of the President of Azerbaijan - 33 people and companies blacklisted by the US Government because of evidence that they have done business with Mexican drug lords, terrorist organisations like Hezbollah or rogue nations like North Korea - Customers including Ponzi schemers, drug kingpins, tax evaders and at least one jailed sex offender - Movie star Jackie Chan, who had at least six companies managed through the law firm"

nextos 11y ago
Leo Messi too, who had already been caught on another scandal by Spanish Tax Office.
- usaphp 11y ago
  Not Leo messi, but the company who operates his money. The recent case that Spanish tax office opened against him was in regards to a payment that has happened when he was 17 year old...I doubt that messi at 17 yo was the one who was dealing with his taxes
  - kgwgk 11y ago
    He was not 17 when he set up another shell company in Panama: Mega Star Enterprises, the offshore company owned by Messi and his father at least as far back as 2013, is not mentioned in the Spanish government’s 2014 and 2015 indictments against the pair. The leaked records show Messi signed at least one document reflecting his ownership of Mega Star http://indianexpress.com/article/sports/football/panama-papers-leak-includes-lionel-messi-michel-platini-and-officials-charged-in-fifa-scandal/ http://indianexpress.com/article/sports/football/panama-pape...
UVB-76 11y ago
For what it's worth, being featured in these documents is not in and of itself evidence of any wrongdoing. There are entirely lawful and legitimate reasons for making use of offshore company structures.
- vesinisa 11y ago
  Yeah, hiding a conflict of interest might be illegal, but "tax planning" is by definition legal.
  - VonGuard 11y ago
    Save for the deposit minimums in the 6 figure region....
- IkmoIkmo 11y ago
  I'd replace wrongdoing with illegal. If you ask me, if you're a billionaire and you're not willing to pay taxes and spend 0.0001% of your wealth on the expertise to reduce your tax bill by 99%, in legal ways that 99.99% of the rest of the population doesn't engage in, then by all means that's wrongdoing to me and I think most would be with me on that. Of course it's not necessarily illegal.
  - ryanlol 11y ago
    What about non billionaires? These arrangements aren't overly expensive and are very much suitable for perfectly "ordinary" people.
    - mattmanser 11y ago
      My friend was/is engaged in tax evasion that HMRC have now declared as tax evasion and they'll be taking all that money for the last 5 years, thank you very much. He/she said the same thing as you are saying now. The difference between you and the billionaires is that they can afford to make an offer, a la google to the UK. You are just going to be completely screwed when they come knocking on the door.
temp 11y ago
>Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson and his wife secretly owned an offshore firm that held millions of dollars in Icelandic bank bonds during the country's financial crisis Also, a quarter of Iceland's cabinet apparently holds offshore companies.
- spacemanmatt 11y ago
  A country that actually jails its bankers for their crimes may be deeply interested in this information. popcorn time
darkr 11y ago
> British Prime Minister David Cameron, a leader in the push for tax-haven reform There was a load of rhetoric in 2011 about offshore/tax reform, but very little in the way of action since then. As with tradition in Cameron's brand of "Compassionate Conservatism", it's a depressingly cynical slight of hand and nothing more.
- smhg 11y ago
  How much is he able to influence the British Virgin Islands? As they seem to be one of the top havens for years. If he is, and being a leader in the push for reform, what was on his agenda for BVI?
  - ZenoArrow 11y ago
    Jersey is also one of the top tax havens IIRC. As for Cameron being a leader in tax haven reform, I don't buy it for a second. Words are cheap, what action has his government taken to tackle the issue? If anything, they've been at work to increase legal loopholes and tax breaks for the rich. Not only that, but George Osbourne's family company has been proven to dodge tax. When you've got people at the top this morally bankrupt, do you really expect them to fix the regulations to serve the public? http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/oct/18/george-osborne-shares-rights-tax http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/oct/18/george-osbor... http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/budget-2015-corporation-tax-just-got-cut-again-even-though-the-uk-already-has-the-lowest-rate-in-the-10375238.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/budget-2015-co... http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/george-osborne-receives-dividend-payment-from-family-business-that-pays-no-corporation-tax-a6873151.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/george-osborne...
  - andy_ppp 11y ago
    Cameron will talk a good game in the press, do the exact opposite thing and by then the press has moved on and no-one seems to question it... It seems quite surreal that we all sleepwalk through these lies, but we do.
  - wastedhours 11y ago
infodroid 11y ago
I did not find these references in the linked BBC story. Where is this quoted from?
- mikeyouse 11y ago
  The source for HN has changed a few times, the original was here and contains the breakdown quoted above: https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160403-panama-papers-global-overview.html https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160403-panama-papers-global-...
Mikeb85 11y ago
> Associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin secretly shuffled as much as $2 billion through banks and shadow companies So where's the other $198 billion? > Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who has positioned himself as a reformer in a country shaken by corruption scandals Not surprising. An oligarch doing oligarch things. Surprised anyone thought he'd be anything but corrupt. > Movie star Jackie Chan, who had at least six companies managed through the law firm Guy who makes movies owns companies, imagine that? Some of this is rather pedestrian, some interesting...
- varjag 11y ago
  > So where's the other $198 billion? The company the data has leaked from is not even in the top 3 of its kind. Either way going from the (claimed) zero fortune to billions discovered on the spot is telling.
  - Mikeb85 11y ago
    Except there's no proof it's his billions (Putin's name isn't in the leaks). Just that someone he knows may have been involved. Everyone knows Putin will use the oligarchs when expedient, and crush them when he needs to. And he has cracked down on them over the years. Still no actual proof he's done anything to enrich himself. Meanwhile, as the media turns that molehill into a mountain, there's an actual smoking gun in Poroshenko, and many western leaders. But in the media it's all about Putin.
    - varjag 11y ago
      Well, Poroshenko offshore turned out to be what, 3,400 usd? And it's a mountain compared to Putin's two billions? Sorry but no; also nobody generally gives a damn about Poroshenko given his temporary and marginal role in the world politics. Exposing the western leaders is all good, it does happen regularly thanks to the free press of the Western world. Taking Putin's corruption virginity, however, is once in a lifetime event and is definitely more newsworthy than misdeeds of the Western temps in the office.

nextos 11y ago

Leo Messi too, who had already been caught on another scandal by Spanish Tax Office.

usaphp 11y ago
Not Leo messi, but the company who operates his money. The recent case that Spanish tax office opened against him was in regards to a payment that has happened when he was 17 year old...I doubt that messi at 17 yo was the one who was dealing with his taxes
- kgwgk 11y ago
  He was not 17 when he set up another shell company in Panama: Mega Star Enterprises, the offshore company owned by Messi and his father at least as far back as 2013, is not mentioned in the Spanish government’s 2014 and 2015 indictments against the pair. The leaked records show Messi signed at least one document reflecting his ownership of Mega Star http://indianexpress.com/article/sports/football/panama-papers-leak-includes-lionel-messi-michel-platini-and-officials-charged-in-fifa-scandal/ http://indianexpress.com/article/sports/football/panama-pape...

UVB-76 11y ago

For what it's worth, being featured in these documents is not in and of itself evidence of any wrongdoing. There are entirely lawful and legitimate reasons for making use of offshore company structures.

vesinisa 11y ago
Yeah, hiding a conflict of interest might be illegal, but "tax planning" is by definition legal.
- VonGuard 11y ago
  Save for the deposit minimums in the 6 figure region....
IkmoIkmo 11y ago
I'd replace wrongdoing with illegal. If you ask me, if you're a billionaire and you're not willing to pay taxes and spend 0.0001% of your wealth on the expertise to reduce your tax bill by 99%, in legal ways that 99.99% of the rest of the population doesn't engage in, then by all means that's wrongdoing to me and I think most would be with me on that. Of course it's not necessarily illegal.
- ryanlol 11y ago
  What about non billionaires? These arrangements aren't overly expensive and are very much suitable for perfectly "ordinary" people.
  - mattmanser 11y ago
    My friend was/is engaged in tax evasion that HMRC have now declared as tax evasion and they'll be taking all that money for the last 5 years, thank you very much. He/she said the same thing as you are saying now. The difference between you and the billionaires is that they can afford to make an offer, a la google to the UK. You are just going to be completely screwed when they come knocking on the door.

temp 11y ago

>Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson and his wife secretly owned an offshore firm that held millions of dollars in Icelandic bank bonds during the country's financial crisis Also, a quarter of Iceland's cabinet apparently holds offshore companies.

spacemanmatt 11y ago
A country that actually jails its bankers for their crimes may be deeply interested in this information. popcorn time

darkr 11y ago

> British Prime Minister David Cameron, a leader in the push for tax-haven reform There was a load of rhetoric in 2011 about offshore/tax reform, but very little in the way of action since then. As with tradition in Cameron's brand of "Compassionate Conservatism", it's a depressingly cynical slight of hand and nothing more.

smhg 11y ago
How much is he able to influence the British Virgin Islands? As they seem to be one of the top havens for years. If he is, and being a leader in the push for reform, what was on his agenda for BVI?
- ZenoArrow 11y ago
  Jersey is also one of the top tax havens IIRC. As for Cameron being a leader in tax haven reform, I don't buy it for a second. Words are cheap, what action has his government taken to tackle the issue? If anything, they've been at work to increase legal loopholes and tax breaks for the rich. Not only that, but George Osbourne's family company has been proven to dodge tax. When you've got people at the top this morally bankrupt, do you really expect them to fix the regulations to serve the public? http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/oct/18/george-osborne-shares-rights-tax http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/oct/18/george-osbor... http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/budget-2015-corporation-tax-just-got-cut-again-even-though-the-uk-already-has-the-lowest-rate-in-the-10375238.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/budget-2015-co... http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/george-osborne-receives-dividend-payment-from-family-business-that-pays-no-corporation-tax-a6873151.html http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/george-osborne...
- andy_ppp 11y ago
  Cameron will talk a good game in the press, do the exact opposite thing and by then the press has moved on and no-one seems to question it... It seems quite surreal that we all sleepwalk through these lies, but we do.
- wastedhours 11y ago

infodroid 11y ago

I did not find these references in the linked BBC story. Where is this quoted from?

mikeyouse 11y ago
The source for HN has changed a few times, the original was here and contains the breakdown quoted above: https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160403-panama-papers-global-overview.html https://panamapapers.icij.org/20160403-panama-papers-global-...

Mikeb85 11y ago

> Associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin secretly shuffled as much as $2 billion through banks and shadow companies So where's the other $198 billion? > Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who has positioned himself as a reformer in a country shaken by corruption scandals Not surprising. An oligarch doing oligarch things. Surprised anyone thought he'd be anything but corrupt. > Movie star Jackie Chan, who had at least six companies managed through the law firm Guy who makes movies owns companies, imagine that? Some of this is rather pedestrian, some interesting...

varjag 11y ago
> So where's the other $198 billion? The company the data has leaked from is not even in the top 3 of its kind. Either way going from the (claimed) zero fortune to billions discovered on the spot is telling.
- Mikeb85 11y ago
  Except there's no proof it's his billions (Putin's name isn't in the leaks). Just that someone he knows may have been involved. Everyone knows Putin will use the oligarchs when expedient, and crush them when he needs to. And he has cracked down on them over the years. Still no actual proof he's done anything to enrich himself. Meanwhile, as the media turns that molehill into a mountain, there's an actual smoking gun in Poroshenko, and many western leaders. But in the media it's all about Putin.
  - varjag 11y ago
    Well, Poroshenko offshore turned out to be what, 3,400 usd? And it's a mountain compared to Putin's two billions? Sorry but no; also nobody generally gives a damn about Poroshenko given his temporary and marginal role in the world politics. Exposing the western leaders is all good, it does happen regularly thanks to the free press of the Western world. Taking Putin's corruption virginity, however, is once in a lifetime event and is definitely more newsworthy than misdeeds of the Western temps in the office.