The five most important charts from the Panama Papers leaks
It’s being described as the “biggest leak in history.” Over 11 million confidential documents were released from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which has been described as the world’s fourth-largest provider of offshore services.
The documents were obtained by an anonymous source who contacted German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, which worked with other papers and the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists to go through the data. The leak shows how the Panama-based law firm helped its clients launder money and evade tax.
It implicates 12 current or former heads of state and 61 people linked to current or former world leaders, including British prime minister David Cameron’s father, at least eight top Chinese officials, and Bollywood’s most famous stars.
1 Here are the five most important graphs from the so-called “Panama Papers”:
The Panama Papers showcase the top 10 most popular tax havens for the ultra rich. More than 113,000—one out of every two—companies that appear in Mossack Fonseca’s documents were incorporated in the British Virgin Islands.
Hong Kong topped the list of countries where intermediaries—banks, law firms, accountants, and related firms—operate with over 2,200 listed. Mossack Fonseca had worked with more than 14,000 for its clients.
Honk Kong also topped the list with the most active intermediaries, with 37,675 offshore companies.
The leak also exposed the banks requesting the most offshore companies for clients. Experta Corporate & Trust Services was the bank leading the list for the requests. (Note HSBC, UBS, Credit Suisse, and theBritish queen’s bank Coutts in the list.)
The Panama Papers dwarf some of the other leaks in the last decade. The anonymous source sent over 2.6 terabytes worth of records from Mossack Fonseca.