Panama papers
Well now, of all of the people we follow here, Jackie does have the most unique list of scandals. :o
WORLD 6:25am April 4, 2016[URL=“http://www.9news.com.au/world/2016/04/04/05/39/panama-papers-vladimir-putin-aides-among-world-leaders-exposed-in-tax-haven-dump”]
Panama Papers: Huge leak exposes offshore accounts linked to world’s rich and famous
By 9NEWS
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s aides, Jackie Chan and Lionel Messi’s secret assets were revealed. (AFP file images)
Close aides of Russian President Vladimir Putin are among those whose assets feature in a vast exposé of tax havens, made by an international group of journalists who uncovered a massive leak of 11.5 million documents from a Panama-based law firm.
The leaked documents, known as the Panama Papers, allegedly detail the assets of about 140 political figures - including 12 current and former world leaders - as well as some celebrities and blacklisted companies, according to the probe by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung.
The investigation yielded 11.5 million documents from around 214,000 offshore entities, the ICIJ said.
The leaked data, dated from 1975 to the end of last year, provides what the ICIJ described as a “never-before-seen view inside the offshore world.”
Names featured in the leak included the president of Ukraine, the king of Saudi Arabia, the prime ministers of Iceland and Pakistan, and the children of the president of Azerbaijan.
Although Mr Putin’s name is not mentioned in the documents, his close associates “secretly shuffled as much as $2 billion through banks and shadow companies,” according to the ICIJ.
The records show his friend and associate Sergey Roldugin is “a behind-the-scenes player in a clandestine network operated by Putin associates,” the ICIJ wrote.
He “is listed as the owner of offshore companies that have obtained payments from other companies worth tens of millions of dollars.”
“A company linked to the cellist also grabbed secret influence over Russia’s largest truck maker, another snagged a big slice of Russia’s TV advertising industry.”
April 04, 2016: Iceland’s Prime Minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, has walked out of an interview after being asked questions about one of his family’s offshore accounts which allegedly benefited from Iceland’s financial crisis in 2008.
The evidence suggests Mr Roldugin has acted as a “front man for a network of Putin loyalists – and perhaps for Putin himself”, the ICIJ wrote.
The Panama Papers also named celebrities including move star Jackie Chan, who has at least six companies managed through the Panama firm.
However, “there is no evidence that Chan used his companies for improper purposes”, the ICIJ wrote, explaining that having an offshore company isn’t necessarily illegal.
Football star Lionel Messi’s secret holdings are also detailed, with the papers revealing he and his father owned a Panama company called Mega Stars Inc.
The revelations come as “his offshore dealings are currently the target of a tax evasion case in Spain,” the ICIJ wrote.
The papers also reveal the holdings of 29 billionaires featured in Forbes Magazine’s list of the world’s 500 richest people.
Economist Gabriel Zucman said the findings revealed ingrained corruption in the “offshore world”.
“These findings show how deeply ingrained harmful practices and criminality are in the offshore world,” the University of California, Berkeley, economist said.
They also expose at least 33 people and companies blacklisted by the US government due to evidence of criminality, including “doing business with Mexican drug lords, terrorist organizations like Hezbollah or rogue nations like North Korea and Iran,” the ICIJ wrote.
US authorities believe one of the companies “supplied fuel for the aircraft that the Syrian government used to bomb and kill thousands of its own citizens”.
The leaked documents came from Mossack Fonseca, a Panama-based law firm with offices in more than 35 countries.
They were reviewed by a team of more than 370 reporters from over 70 countries, according to the ICIJ.
The BBC reported Mossack Fonseca said it had operated “beyond reproach” for 40 years and had never been charged with any criminal wrongdoing.
The original source of the leaked documents is unclear.
With AFP.
100 grams of that is VERY different from 100 grams of what we have over here. 
