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+--- Thread: Panama Papers: Leaks spur global investigations (/showthread.php?tid=12750)
Panama Papers: Leaks spur global investigations - GreatSpirit - 04-04-2016
This is just the beginning......
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http://www.bbc.com/news/world-35960329
Authorities across the world are being spurred into action after a huge leak of confidential documents revealed how tax havens are used to hide wealth.
Eleven million documents were leaked from the secretive Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. They show how the company has helped some clients launder money, dodge sanctions and avoid tax. The company says it has operated beyond reproach for 40 years and has never been charged with criminal wrong-doing. Since the first revelations late on Sunday a number of investigations have been launched by Austrian, Dutch and Australian authorities, among others.
The documents feature 12 current or former heads of state, and at least 60 people linked to current or former world leaders. The files reveal a suspected billion-dollar money laundering ring involving close associates of Russia's President Vladimir Putin.
Iceland's Prime Minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, is also shown to have had an undeclared interest linked to his wife's wealth.
By Monday morning, 16,000 people in Iceland had signed a petition demanding his resignation, and a large protest was expected in Reykjavik later.
Mr Gunnlaugsson has ruled out stepping down.
The leaked documents also show that Ian Cameron, the late father of UK Prime Minister David Cameron, was a Mossack Fonseca client.
Also mentioned are the brother-in-law of China's President Xi Jinping; Ukraine's President Petro Poroshenko; and Argentina's President Mauricio Macri.
The documents reveal for the first time details of an operation run by a Russian bank and which involves close associates of President Putin. The operation was run by Bank Rossiya, which is subject to US and EU sanctions following Russia's annexation of Crimea.
Money has been channelled through offshore companies, two of which were officially owned by one of the Russian president's closest friends, cellist Sergei Roldugin.
The Kremlin spokesman said it was clear the main target of the reports was Mr Putin, as well as Russia's political stability ahead of parliamentary elections.
Dmitry Peskov dismissed the investigation as insinuation and speculation, and suggested many of the team of journalists behind it were actually former US state department and CIA officials.
Another case highlights how Mossack Fonseca offered financial services designed to help business clients hide their wealth. One wealthy client was offered fake ownership records to hide money from the authorities.
Mossack Fonseca says offshore companies are available worldwide and are used for a variety of legitimate purposes. "If we detect suspicious activity or misconduct, we are quick to report it to the authorities," it said. "Similarly, when authorities approach us with evidence of possible misconduct, we always co-operate fully with them."
RE: Panama Papers: Leaks spur global investigations - Parsons - 04-04-2016
Thanks for sharing. I get all my news second-hand, so I wouldn't have noticed this if you hadn't of shared. I think this is moving in a positive direction since it makes it harder to hoard monetary wealth.
RE: Panama Papers: Leaks spur global investigations - indiGo33 - 04-04-2016
Iceland's PM is already called to resign, but it is still just the tip of the iceberg. What happens now is up to the people and how they will choose to react to this situation. This is undoubtedly the biggest data leak in history (way bigger than Snowden's) and it I'm eager to see how this will all unfold.
RE: Panama Papers: Leaks spur global investigations - GreatSpirit - 04-05-2016
(04-04-2016, 11:10 PM)indiGo33 Wrote: Iceland's PM is already called to resign, but it is still just the tip of the iceberg. What happens now is up to the people and how they will choose to react to this situation. This is undoubtedly the biggest data leak in history (way bigger than Snowden's) and it I'm eager to see how this will all unfold.
The Alliance probably had a part in leaking this. Indeed let's see where this will go.
RE: Panama Papers: Leaks spur global investigations - GreatSpirit - 04-05-2016
(04-04-2016, 05:14 PM)Parsons Wrote: Thanks for sharing. I get all my news second-hand, so I wouldn't have noticed this if you hadn't of shared. I think this is moving in a positive direction since it makes it harder to hoard monetary wealth.
No prob man!
RE: Panama Papers: Leaks spur global investigations - tamaryn - 04-05-2016
I had my hopes up on this, after further examination it names no US or Israeli citizens. A controlled dump by joint intelligence agencies no doubt. A Limited Hangout, shall we say.
Notice the leak has been managed by the 'International Consortium of Investigative Journalists'. Funders include:
– Ford Foundation
– Carnegie Endowment
– Rockefeller Family Fund
– W K Kellogg Foundation
– Open Society Foundation (Soros)
This article brings up some critical information the mainstream media is deliberately ignoring.
http://www.hangthebankers.com/panama-leaks-enemies-west/
Limited Hangout
http://rationalwiki.org/wiki/Limited_hangout
RE: Panama Papers: Leaks spur global investigations - Parsons - 04-05-2016
Ah, this makes more sense. I noticed anything Western was curiously absent.
RE: Panama Papers: Leaks spur global investigations - Nía - 04-06-2016
Quote from 6 Things You Need to Know About the Bombshell 'Panama Papers' Leak:
Quote:5. There is a conspicuous lack of U.S. players named in the initial reporting.
Adam Johnson, a contributing writer for AlterNet and FAIR, pointed out this absence on social media:
The United States is pure and good and incorruptible. pic.twitter.com/Xo9LEuCavF
— Adam H. Johnson (@adamjohnsonNYC) April 3, 2016
However, the editor of Süddeutsche Zeitung says there is more to come.
Editor of Süddeutsche Zeitung responded to the lack of U.S. individuals in the documents, saying "Just wait for what is coming next"
— Mathew Ingram (@mathewi) April 3, 2016
6. Don’t forget about the “free trade” deal between the U.S. and Panama.
Bearing similarities to the infamous NAFTA deal, the "United States-Panama Trade Promotion Agreement" was implemented in 2012.
According to Lori Wallach, the director of Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch, "Nearly five years after the U.S.-Panama Free Trade Agreement vote, the Panama Paper leak proves once again how entirely cynical and meaningless are the lavish promises made by American presidents and corporations about the economic benefits and policy reforms from trade agreements. The top promise about the benefits of the U.S.-Panama FTA was that it would end Panama’s financial crime secrecy protections and tax haven and money laundering activities, but this leak shows that, if anything, Panama’s outrageous financial crime facilitation has intensified while the FTA’s investor protections and official U.S. stamp of approval has increased inflows of dirty money to Panama."
"Now the same cast of characters is making equally outlandish promises of the benefits of the TPP," Wallach told AlterNet, "while, increasingly, past supporters of these pacts are joining long-term critics in saying that the TPP will not deliver economic gains for most Americans or improvement in labor, environmental or human rights policy among its signatories."
Source: AlterNet, April 4, 2016
RE: Panama Papers: Leaks spur global investigations - Konfusius - 04-08-2016
Source