ICIJ terms Panama Papers impact historical

 JournalismPakistan.com |  Published 8 years ago

ISLAMABAD - The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) Friday said the Panama papers investigation has produced an almost daily drumbeat of regulatory moves, follow-up stories and calls by politicians and activists for more action to combat offshore financial secrecy.

Terming the Panama Papers impact “historical”, the ICIJ said at least 150 inquiries, audits or investigations into Panama Papers revelations have been announced in 79 countries around the world. It adds that an estimated 35 billion dollars have been wiped off the value of nearly 400 companies after the Panama papers.

“Governments are investigating more than 6500 taxpayers, and have recouped at least $110 million so far in unpaid taxes or asset seizures.” Additionally Nine Mossack Fonseca offices have shuttered around the world, and the law firm has been fined close to half a million dollars.

ICIJ said two world leaders, in Argentina and Pakistan, remain ensnared in public scandals and ongoing probes related to the Panama Papers. “In Argentina, a federal prosecutor is examining  President Mauricio Macri’s directorship of a Bahamian company that he had failed to include in public financial disclosures when he was mayor of Buenos Aires. Pakistan’s Supreme Court is currently hearing a petition brought by the political opposition against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, whose children owned real estate in London through companies created by Mossack Fonseca.”

It said since the Panama Papers broke in early April, hundreds of journalists from dozens of countries who collaborated on the investigation have published more than 4,700 news stories based on Mossack Fonseca, the globe-spanning law firm that has created hard-to-trace shell companies for corporations, politicians and fraudsters.