The Paradise Papers Power Players interactive produced by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists explores the offshore companies linked to 40 politicians and their immediate relatives.
Their stories are based on a cache of 13.4 million leaked documents from offshore law firms Appleby and AsiaCiti Trust, and from the corporate registries of 19 secret jurisdictions around the world.
The documents were obtained by German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared with ICIJ, which led a global investigation involving more than 90 media outlets and 380 journalists.The Paradise Papers stories began publishing on November 5, 2017.
In all, ICIJ found more than 120 politicians in the leaked files, including 14 current or former country leaders and over 110 other public officials from 47 countries with connections to entities registered or incorporated in tax havens.
ICIJ sifted through thousands of emails, documents and corporate records to find names that were in the public interest and unveil the offshore financial dealings of those public officials and their family members. The profiles in this interactive were produced after a year-long investigation which combined a thorough analysis of the leaked files with research and cross-examination of public records, such as financial statements and asset declarations.The names displayed in this interactive are a selection of the most relevant cases.
Protecting family assets, purchasing real estate and yachts and holding investment vehicles in tax-advantageous countries were among the most common uses for offshore companies.
There are legitimate uses of offshore companies, and we do not intend to suggest or imply that any individuals or entities included in the interactive were in violation of the law. In collaboration with its media partners, ICIJ reached out to all those in the interactive to give them a chance to comment. The answers we received are included in the profiles.
Appleby did not respond to ICIJ questions but released a statement saying that they “are an offshore law firm who advises clients on legitimate and lawful ways to conduct their business. We do not tolerate illegal behaviour. It is true that we are not infallible. Where we find that mistakes have happened we act quickly to put things right and we make the necessary notifications to the relevant authorities.”
AsiaCiti Trust did not respond to ICIJ’s repeated requests for comments.
ICIJ media partners around the world have suggested the profiles they believe are of interest to their audiences. The information in the interactive is current as of November 5, 2017. It is based on the Appleby’s database, which is current to December 2014, and on the data from the registries, which is current to December 2016. ICIJ will release the names of companies and people in the Paradise Papers files in stages, starting mid-November 2017.
Credits
- Research Editor: Emilia Díaz-Strucka
- Data editor: Mar Cabra
- Chief Technology Officer: Pierre Romera
- Editors: Martha M. Hamilton , Hamish Boland-Rudder and Marina Walker Guevara
- Reporters: Scilla Alecci, Sasha Chavkin, Ryan Chittum, Will Fitzgibbon and Spencer Woodman
- Data and Research Unit: Rigoberto Carvajal, Miguel Fiandor, Cécile Schilis-Gallego, Matthew Caruana Galizia, Julien Martin, Delphine Reuter and Manuel Villa
- Fact-checkers: Joe Hillhouse and Richard H.P. Sia
- Illustrator: Rocco Fazzari