One of the biggest document
leaks in history snared world leaders, celebrities and sorts stars in a snowballing
worldwide scandal Monday over their secretive offshore financial dealings.
A year-long worldwide media
investigation into a trove of 11.5 million documents, leaked from a
Panama-based law firm with offices in 35 countries, exposed a tangle of confidential
financial dealings by the elite, from aides of Russian President Vladimir Putin
to relatives of Chinese President Xi Jinping, sports celebrities and screen
stars.
The vast stash of records from
legal firm Mossack Fonseca, the so-called Panama Papers, was obtained from an
anonymous source by German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and shared with more than
100 media groups by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
(ICIJ).
Offshore financial dealings are
not illegal in themselves but may be abused to hide assets from tax
authorities, launder the proceeds of criminal activities or conceal
misappropriated or politically inconvenient wealth.
Among the biggest findings of
the media probe, which fingered about 140 political figures including 12
current or former heads of state:
Banks, companies and close
associates of Putin, who is not himself named in the documents, "secretly
shuffled as much as $2 billion through banks and shadow companies",
according to the ICIJ. These allegations were not aired by Russian state TV.
The families of some of China's
top communist brass -- including the nation's president -- used offshore tax
havens to conceal their fortunes. At least eight current or former members of
the Politburo Standing Committee, the ruling Communist Party's most powerful
body, have been implicated.
A member of FIFA's ethics
committee, Juan Pedro Damiani, had business ties with three men indicted in a
corruption scandal. Argentine football great Lionel Messi and his father are
named as owners of a Panama company, Mega Star Enterprises, that has not
previously been disclosed in a Spanish tax probe into their affairs. UEFA chief
Michel Platini used Mossack Fonseca to administer an offshore company, but he denied
wrongdoing in a statement to AFP.
A Panamanian shell company may
have helped hide millions of dollars from the Brink's-Mat heist, a $40 million
British gold bullion robbery at London-Heathrow Airport in November 1983 that
is etched in criminal folklore. The Panamanian law firm denies this
allegations, however, the ICIJ said.
Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur David
Gunnlaugsson secretly owned millions of dollars of bank bonds during his
country's financial crisis when the country's financial system collapsed and
banks had to be bailed out. The irritated premier denied wrongdoing in a
television interview, which he cut short, but faces calls to resign and a
no-confidence vote in parliament this week.
Three of Pakistani Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif's four children -- Maryam, who has been tipped to be his
political successor; Hasan and Hussain -- were named as owners of London real
estate through offshore entities. But Sharif's son Hussain told Pakistani
television:
"There is nothing wrong with it and I have never concealed
them, nor do I need to do that."
The Panama Papers, from around
214,000 offshore entities covering almost 40 years, also name the president of
Ukraine and the king of Saudi Arabia, as well as sporting and movie stars
including Jackie Chan.
At least 33 people and
companies listed in the documents were blacklisted by the US government for
wrongdoing, including dealings with North Korea and Iran, as well as Lebanon's
Islamist group Hezbollah, the ICIJ said.
President Francois Hollande
promised Monday that French tax authorities will investigate the disclosures of
the Panama Papers and that legal proceedings will follow. Australia said it,
too, had launched a probe into 800 wealthy Mossack Fonseca clients.
"I think the leak will
prove to be probably the biggest blow the offshore world has ever taken because
of the extent of the documents," said ICIJ director Gerard Ryle.
One of the Panama law firm's
founders, Ramon Fonseca, told AFP the leaks were "a crime, a felony"
and "an attack on Panama".
"Certain countries don't
like it that we are so competitive in attracting companies," he said.
Panama's government said it had
"zero tolerance" for any shady deals, and vowed to "vigorously
cooperate" with any legal investigations.
The massive leak of documents
recalls Wikileaks' exploits of 2010 -- which included the release of secret
military files and diplomatic cables.
However, in terms of size,
"the 'Panama Papers' is likely the biggest leak of inside information in
history," according to ICIJ.
More than 500 banks, their
subsidiaries and branches have worked with Mossack Fonseca since the 1970s to
help clients manage offshore companies. UBS set up more than 1,100 and HSBC and
its affiliates created more than 2,300.
The documents show "banks,
law firms and other offshore players often fail to follow legal requirements to
make sure clients are not involved in criminal enterprises, tax dodging or
political corruption," the ICIJ said.
Mossack Fonseca is already
subject to investigations in Germany and Brazil, where it is part of a huge
money laundering probe that has threatened to topple the current government.