{"id":33637,"date":"2021-10-03T18:40:00","date_gmt":"2021-10-03T18:40:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ostro.si\/uncategorized\/offshore-havens-and-hidden-riches-of-world-leaders-and-billionaires-exposed-in-unprecedented-leak\/"},"modified":"2026-06-02T11:22:43","modified_gmt":"2026-06-02T11:22:43","slug":"offshore-havens-and-hidden-riches-of-world-leaders-and-billionaires-exposed-in-unprecedented-leak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ostro.si\/en\/stories\/pandora-papers\/offshore-havens-and-hidden-riches-of-world-leaders-and-billionaires-exposed-in-unprecedented-leak\/","title":{"rendered":"Offshore havens and hidden riches of world leaders and billionaires exposed in unprecedented leak"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

In popular imagination, the offshore system is often seen as a far-flung cluster of palm-shaded islands. The Pandora Papers show that the offshore money machine operates in every corner of the planet, including the world\u2019s largest democracies. The key players in the system include elite institutions \u2013 multinational banks<\/a>, law firms and accounting practices<\/a> \u2013 headquartered in the U.S. and Europe. <\/p>\n

Millions of leaked documents and the biggest journalism partnership in history have uncovered financial secrets of 35 current and former world leaders, more than 330 politicians and public officials in 91 countries and territories, and a global lineup of fugitives, con artists and murderers. The leaked records reveal that many of the power players who could help bring an end to the offshore system instead benefit from it \u2013 stashing assets in covert companies and trusts while their governments do little to slow a global stream of illicit money that enriches criminals and impoverishes nations. <\/p>\n

The secret records, known as the Pandora Papers<\/a>, come from 14 offshore services firms from around the world that set up shell companies and other offshore nooks for clients often seeking to keep their financial activities in the shadows. Pandora Papers include more than 11.9 million confidential files include information about the dealings of nearly three times as many current and former country leaders as any previous leak of documents from offshore havens. <\/p>\n

An ICIJ analysis of the secret documents identified 956 companies in offshore havens tied to 336 high-level politicians and public officials, including country leaders, cabinet ministers, ambassadors and others. More than two-thirds of those companies were set up in the British Virgin Islands, a jurisdiction long known as a key cog in the offshore system. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n