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Saturday, December 23, 2017

Paradise Papers



Almost eighteen months after Panama Papers leak, another massive trove of secret financial data has been leaked by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).



 The financial data on how big corporatess and ultra-rich individuals moved money to and from 19 tax havens to evade taxes was initially obtained by German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung.

The leak, called the Paradise Papers, contains 13.4 million documents from two leading firms in offshore finance.

 Most of the data leak came from Appleby, a Bermuda-based legal services provider, that facilitated setting up of offshore firms with low or zero tax rates.

Singapore-based Asiaciti was the other firm that helped wealthy to move money to tax havens

Where do the Paradise Papers come from?

There are more than 1,400GB of data, containing about 13.4 million documents. Some 6.8 million come from the offshore legal service provider Appleby and corporate services provider Estera.

The two operated together under the Appleby name until Estera became independent in 2016. Another six million documents come from corporate registries in some 19 jurisdictions, mostly in the Caribbean.

A smaller amount comes from the Singapore-based international trust and corporate services provider, Asiaciti  Trust

 The leaked data covers seven decades, from 1950 to 2016.

What is Appleby?

 

A law firm that helps corporations, financial institutions and high-net-worth individuals set up and register companies in offshore jurisdictions.

Founded in Bermuda and with a history dating back to the 1890s, it has become one of the largest and best known of about 10 major companies involved in the specialist arena.

The leak shows the US dominates Appleby's client register, with more than 31,000 US addresses for clients. There were more than 14,000 UK addresses and 12,000 in Bermuda.

India ranks 19th out of the 180 countries represented in the data in terms of the number of names. In all, there are 714 Indians in the tally, including the names of several political leaders

The ICIJ, which worked with 95 media partners globally for the investigation, said it explored 13.4 million leaked files from offshore law firms, majorly Bermuda-based Appleby, and company registries in several secretive tax jurisdictions.

Among the 180 countries represented in the data, India ranked 19th in terms of number of names (714), while Sun Group, founded by Nand Lal Khemka, figured as Appleby's second largest client with as many as 118 offshore entities.

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The ICIJ, which worked with 95 media partners globally for the investigation, said it explored 13.4 million leaked files from offshore law firms, majorly Bermuda-based Appleby, and company registries in several secretive tax jurisdictions.

Among the 180 countries represented in the data, India ranked 19th in terms of number of names (714), while Sun Group, founded by Nand Lal Khemka, figured as Appleby's second largest client with as many as 118 offshore entities.

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