A year after the Panama Papers leak comes the Paradise Papers!
The Paradise Papers are leaks of a trove of 13.4 million files taken mostly from the offshore law firm, Appleby.
The files were leaked to Suddeutsche Zeitung, the same German newspaper that took hold of the Panama Papers in April, 2016.
What was discovered in the Paradise Papers?
Scores of international journalist including those from Virgin Islands News Online, watchdog organisations and governments are going through the leak documents.
Thus far the information revealed that some big names are involved - among them 120 politicians.
United States President Donald J. Trump's (R) Commerce Secretary Wilbur L. Ross has been named in the Paradise Papers.
Mr Ross has a stake in a shipping firm that receives millions of dollars a year in revenue from a company whose key owners include Russian President Vladimir V. Putin's son-in-law and a Russian tycoon sanctioned by the US Treasury Department as a member of Putin's inner circle according to the leaked information.
Stephen Bronfman, Canadian Prime Minister Justin P. J. Trudeau's friend, chief political fundraiser and adviser, is reported to have used offshore structures to avoid tax at home. The disclosures are likely to generate political heat for the Canadian Prime Minister, who swept to power in October 2015 partly on his promise to tackle economic inequality and take on tax avoidance," reported Britain's Guardian newspaper, which was among the media organisations that received the leak papers.
Even the British Queen is caught up
The Duchy of Lancaster, the private estate of the UK's monarch, is also allegedly involved. The estate of Queen Elizabeth II invested millions of dollars in medical and consumer loan companies, the files show.
While the estate's finance officer said in a statement that the "Duchy was aware" the fund was run offshore, the International Consortium of International Journalist (ICIJ) said that it has "never disclosed details of its investments."
There is no suggestion the queen's estate acted illegally. With the Virgin Islands (VI) colonial status Queen Elizabeth is the sovereign of the VI and is represented by an unelected governor.
Leader of Britain's main Opposition Labour Party Jeremy B. Corbyn also criticised tax avoidance, promising that if his party wins the next election it would clamp down on tax havens and end loopholes.
Who else was unearthed in the leak?
Queen Noor Al-Hussein of Jordan; Uganda Foreign Minister Sam K. Kutesa; Brazil Foreign Minister Henrique C. Meirelles and Yuri B. Milner, a Russian billionaire investor with large stakes in Facebook and Twitter are also named.
The Indian Express reported a few weeks ago that the leak "reveals trails of India's corporates."
In fact India ranks 19th in terms of the number of names. In all, there are 714 Indians in the tally," said the newspaper, which received details of the leak.
Critics & defenders Willock vs Suillivan
There's a new global industry that caters to money that moves around the world," Drew Sullivan, a journalist with ICIJ, told Al Jazeera. "This money moves through tax havens and it's moved to evade taxes to hide assets, to steal money. "It's used by organised crime; it's used by large businesses," Suillivan said.
However, Julian Willock, a former Permanent Secretary with the Government of the Virgin Islands, a British Overseas Territory and one of the major players in the offshore financial sector, told the US National Public Radio earlier this year "while, in most cases, putting your money offshore and outside of your country's financial regulations is legal, the VI remains proud of its well regulated offshore sector and laws that demonstrates transparency and international standards."
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