Pandora Papers
- Olympus News
- Jan 3, 2022
- 2 min read
By: Eshana Sarah Singh
In a recent turn of events, a humongous list of the richest, and most powerful people have come out into the limelight revealing how they use offshore companies to conceal their wealth from their governments and evade taxes.
Offshore refers to a world made up of tax havens where you pay little to no tax. It involves places from all around the world where it is easy to keep your financial affairs hidden from the government where you live. The way it works is that a service provider would buy an offshore company for you with a fake name. You will be able to make a bank account in the name of the firm. A popular use of offshore accounts is to buy lavish properties all around the world. The assets and purchases would not trace back to the individual themselves but rather the offshore company.
The investigation is based on nearly 12 million documents obtained containing 2.94 terabytes of information by the International Consortium and Investigative Journalists. Based on confidential records of 14 offshore service providers located in the British Virgin Islands, Panama, Belize, Cyprus, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and Switzerland, several prominent names have come out, including that of the Russian president Vladimir Putin, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, world-wide best selling artist Shakira and even Jordan's King Abdullah II. Evading taxes is a practice that dates back to the times of the tanned beauty that once was the president of the U.S, Donald Trump who paid $750 in taxes to his billion-dollar company. Additionally the robot-turned-human Elon Musk and the ringmaster of it all, Jeff Bezos have both been known to evade millions in taxes with the former paying $0 in 2018 and the latter paying $0 in 2007 and 2011.
Wealthy people use the offshore system for a variety of reasons. However, it is worth mentioning that not all the people on the Pandora Papers are necessary
‘criminals’. Reasons may involve avoiding tax, hiding proceeds of criminal behavior, or simply due to privacy.
The Pandora Papers reveal secrets from leaders and wealthy individuals from all around the world. This gives citizens a wider understanding of who is ruling them and what kind of country people live in. It is truly a wonder how ordinary people live such alternate lives compared to those with money.
“There really is a parallel financial universe for the world’s millionaires and billionaires,” Washington Post’s Debbie Cenziper said in an interview with CNBC Television.
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