From Chennai to Panama

Chennai: Forty two names from Tamil Nadu figure in the list of offshore companies figuring in the Panama Leaks. While 40 of them are in Chennai, there is one from Coimbatore and another from Ooty.

Considering that the leak showed up over two lakh shell companies, foundations and trusts set up in more than 20 tax havens around the world, the Tamil rich who chose to thus hide their 'earnings', are a tiny number but still, the revelation is significant albeit not surprising.

Details of these 42 wealth parkers are available on the Panama Leaks site: https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/search?cat=3&e=&q=Chennai&utf8=✓. They share celebrity space with well-known people such as UK Prime Minister David Cameron, President Vladmir Putin of Russia, Argentinean football star Lionel Messi and film star Jackie Chan. Iceland's PM, Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson resigned after the leak.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) made public late Monday night this massive database of 2600 GB, the biggest leak to date and several times larger than the Wikileaks (2010) 1.7 GB. The documents revealed the hidden assets of hundreds of politicians, officials, current and former national leaders, celebrities and sports stars, said BBC, whose journalists were part of a huge army of investigators who had worked on the data given by Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca.

A source identified as just 'John Doe'-it's not known whether Doe is a man or a woman--had leaked the papers and explained later in a 1,800-word statement citing 'income equality' as his motive; or rather, Doe was protesting against and seeking to correct the income inequality bred by the existence of the tax havens where the rich individuals and multinationals could park wealth and not pay taxes.

"Banks, financial regulators and tax authorities have failed. Decisions have been made that have spared the wealthy while focusing instead on reining in middle- and low-income citizens", Doe had said in that statement issued last week.
Three economists have now signed a letter urging world leaders to shut down tax havens, saying they only benefited the rich while boosting inequality. "The existence of tax havens does not add to overall global wealth or well-being; they serve no useful economic purpose", the BBC quoted from the letter.

Mossack Fonsec had passed on about 11 million documents held by it to German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, which in turn shared them with the ICIJ. BBC Panorama and UK newspaper The Guardian are among 107 media organizations in 76 countries which have been analysing the documents. It was seen that the company had helped clients launder money, dodge sanctions and evade tax. However, Mossack Fonsec maintained it had operated beyond reproach for 40 years and never been accused or charged with criminal wrongdoing. It claimed it was a victim of a hack and issued last week a 'cease and desist' order to prevent the database being made public, but then, the ICIJ went ahead to release it.

The ICIJ claims to be a "network of the world's best investigative reporters, collaborating on in-depth global stories" and that its investigations "drive important social issues to the top of political and policy agendas around the world".

At the same time, the ICIJ cautioned that it was not suggesting or implying that any persons, companies and other entities figuring in the Panama Leaks had broken the law or otherwise acted improperly. "Many people and entities have the same or similar names. We suggest you confirm the identities of any individuals or entities located in the database based on addresses or other identifiable information. If you find an error in the database please get in touch with us", said ICIJ in abundant caution.