Defence of the day so far from Pervez Rasheed, Pakistan’s information minister. He gave this response, as quoted by Reuters, when asked about offshore companies reportedly owned by the country’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif (above) and his family, as shown in the leaked papers:
Every man has the right to do what he wants with his assets, to throw them in the sea, to sell them, or to establish a trust for them. There is no crime in this in Pakistani law or in international law.
Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif. Photograph: Handout/AFP/Getty ImagesDefence of the day so far from Pervez Rasheed, Pakistan’s information minister. He gave this response, as quoted by Reuters, when asked about offshore companies reportedly owned by the country’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif (above) and his family, as shown in the leaked papers:
Every man has the right to do what he wants with his assets, to throw them in the sea, to sell them, or to establish a trust for them. There is no crime in this in Pakistani law or in international law.
David Cameron. Photograph: Toby Melville/ReutersSome more UK reaction, this time focusing on David Cameron’s plans for an international anti-corruption summit in London in May.Transparency International, which campaigns on corruption issues, has said such efforts must include a crackdown on the many ways wealthy people can shelter their money from tax.
Robert Barrington from Transparency International UK said:
The Panama Papers seem to confirm the evidence from elsewhere that the world’s corrupt elite are gaming the international financial system to launder and protect their stolen wealth.
The only way to stop this grand corruption is through governments, businesses and others coming together and rejecting dirty cash as illegitimate. The time has come to stop turning a blind eye to anonymous purchases of luxury property and goods, refuse to issue un-vetted investment visas and create a legal framework that is fit for purpose in detecting flows of dirty cash.
The prime minister’s anti-corruption summit in May is the perfect opportunity to address these issues, but will only do so if the agenda is ambitious and those who are complicit in grand corruption are not allowed into the room to torpedo effective action.
The South Africa-based African Network of Centers for Investigative Reporting is also among the media groups going over the leaks. Ithas put together ten stories so far (six in English, four in French), covering revelations about Uganda, DRC, Botswana, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Guinea,Senegal (twice), Mali and Tunisia.
And yes, it also has its own illustration.
Charities and NGOs are using the leak as a chance to reiterate their views on tax avoidance. Here’s some quotes from Anders Dahlbeck, who has the title of tax justice adviser at ActionAid:
The latest in a string of tax revelations, this massive use of tax havens yet again demonstrates that the international tax system is broken. Those with the means to do so are able to break the rules on a massive scale, benefiting at the expense of ordinary citizens.
And it not just individuals who benefit from the global network of tax havens. Big companies can use some of the same offshore methods to reduce their tax bills in the UK, and in some of the poorest countries in the world.
The poorest people are hit hardest by corporate tax avoidance: the IMF estimates that developing countries lose out on $200bn a year in avoided corporate tax. Women and girls living in poverty pay the price as key public services like schools and hospitals are starved of funding.
The UK government should lead on reforming the global tax system to tackle tax avoidance around the world. The chancellor’s support for public country-by-country reporting is a good start, but we need a concrete plan as to how this will be implemented to ensure multinational companies start paying their fair share.
Among the 107 media organisations around the globe who are poring over the files is Fusion, the US news channel and website. Here’s their run-through of what they describe as an insight into the world of the “parallel universe for the ultra-rich and ultra-powerful”. It comes with an illustration (below) even more ambitious than those done by Sddeutsche Zeitung. And much more colourful.
Illustration of Fusion’s main page on the Panama Papers revelations. Photograph: Fusion.net
My colleague Shaun Walker in Moscow has the Russian reaction so far – such as it is – to the stories connected to Vladimir Putin:
In Russia there has so far been a muted response to the leaks involving president Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, which were published here by the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta.
While serious newspapers such as Vedomosti ran detailed articles on the Panama documents on Monday, there was no mention of the leaks on state television and little mention by the country’s main news agencies.
So far there has been no reaction from the Kremlin, though Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov pre-empted the story last week, after receiving a request for comment on the allegations. Peskov warned a smear story about Putin was being prepared and suggested it had been ordered by western intelligence agencies with the goal of discrediting Russia.
The leaks are the subject of lively debate on social media, but while Russian anti-corruption activists praised the investigation, some Russians even among the liberal opposition say the claims against Putin’s inner circle are perhaps unsurprising and not interesting.
Political and civil society activist Alena Popova wrote on Facebook: “For a western audience it would be a reason for a politician to resign, but here it isn’t a reason, it’s far from it… Society has become accustomed almost on a genetic level that politicians can steal from our pockets.”
If you’ve not yet seen it here’s the much-watched video of Iceland’s prime minister, Sigmundur Dav Gunnlaugsson, walking out of a TV interview after being asked about alleged links he and his wife have to offshore holdings. It’s one of the more curious interview walkouts you’ll see – Gunnlaugsson continues to answer questions, albeit a bit grumpily, even after standing up to remove his clip microphone.Video
In Britain the reaction to the files has also, thus far, been limited. The head of enforcement and compliance at HM Revenue & Customs, Jennie Grainger, said the organisation was seeking access to the material:
HMRC can confirm that we have already received a great deal of information on offshore companies, including in Panama, from a wide range of sources, which is currently the subject of intensive investigation.
We have asked the ICIJ to share the leaked data that they have obtained with us. We will closely examine this data and will act on it swiftly and appropriately.
Our message is clear: there are no safe havens for tax evaders and no-one should be in any doubt that the days of hiding money offshore are gone. The dishonest minority, who can most afford it, must pay their legal share of tax, like the honest majority already does.
The shadow chancellor, John McDonnell, called on Sunday night for more to be done by both HMRC and the government.
Sddeutsche Zeitung shared the huge cache of files with the Washington DC-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), who in turn enlisted the assistance of dozens of media organisations around the works. The ICIJ has its own dedicated set of pages giving details of the story.
In the UK, as well as the Guardian the BBC is also covering the story in depth. It additionally has its own live blog today of reaction to the revelations.
The leak of the files first came to Sddeutsche Zeitung, the Munich-based daily newspaper. The paper explains (in English) the background of how it acquired the leak from a still-anonymous source. They also have a very illuminating video (partly in German but with English subtitles), explaining the genesis of the leak.
The paper also has a microsite containing all its stories on the subject, as well as some nicely retro accompanying illustrations (see below). There is a smaller selection of the stories in English.
New Zealand’s prime minister, John Key. Photograph: Joshua Roberts/ReutersNew Zealand’s prime minister, John Key, has defended his government’s tax record after the Panama Papers showed links to the country, connected to alleged offshore trusts set up by Maltese politicians and officials via New Zealand. Key told reporters:
New Zealand has had the same tax laws when it comes to trusts since 1988, they were reviewed by the OECD in 2013 and they gave New Zealand a clean bill of health. We also have extensive disclosure regimes and we are signatories to a network of treaties.
http://www.theguardian.com/news/live/2016/apr/04/panama-papers-global-reaction-to-huge-leak-of-offshore-tax-files-live
Every man has the right to do what he wants with his assets, to throw them in the sea, to sell them, or to establish a trust for them. There is no crime in this in Pakistani law or in international law.
Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif. Photograph: Handout/AFP/Getty ImagesDefence of the day so far from Pervez Rasheed, Pakistan’s information minister. He gave this response, as quoted by Reuters, when asked about offshore companies reportedly owned by the country’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif (above) and his family, as shown in the leaked papers:
Every man has the right to do what he wants with his assets, to throw them in the sea, to sell them, or to establish a trust for them. There is no crime in this in Pakistani law or in international law.
David Cameron. Photograph: Toby Melville/ReutersSome more UK reaction, this time focusing on David Cameron’s plans for an international anti-corruption summit in London in May.Transparency International, which campaigns on corruption issues, has said such efforts must include a crackdown on the many ways wealthy people can shelter their money from tax.
Robert Barrington from Transparency International UK said:
The Panama Papers seem to confirm the evidence from elsewhere that the world’s corrupt elite are gaming the international financial system to launder and protect their stolen wealth.
The only way to stop this grand corruption is through governments, businesses and others coming together and rejecting dirty cash as illegitimate. The time has come to stop turning a blind eye to anonymous purchases of luxury property and goods, refuse to issue un-vetted investment visas and create a legal framework that is fit for purpose in detecting flows of dirty cash.
The prime minister’s anti-corruption summit in May is the perfect opportunity to address these issues, but will only do so if the agenda is ambitious and those who are complicit in grand corruption are not allowed into the room to torpedo effective action.
The South Africa-based African Network of Centers for Investigative Reporting is also among the media groups going over the leaks. Ithas put together ten stories so far (six in English, four in French), covering revelations about Uganda, DRC, Botswana, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Guinea,Senegal (twice), Mali and Tunisia.
And yes, it also has its own illustration.
Charities and NGOs are using the leak as a chance to reiterate their views on tax avoidance. Here’s some quotes from Anders Dahlbeck, who has the title of tax justice adviser at ActionAid:
The latest in a string of tax revelations, this massive use of tax havens yet again demonstrates that the international tax system is broken. Those with the means to do so are able to break the rules on a massive scale, benefiting at the expense of ordinary citizens.
And it not just individuals who benefit from the global network of tax havens. Big companies can use some of the same offshore methods to reduce their tax bills in the UK, and in some of the poorest countries in the world.
The poorest people are hit hardest by corporate tax avoidance: the IMF estimates that developing countries lose out on $200bn a year in avoided corporate tax. Women and girls living in poverty pay the price as key public services like schools and hospitals are starved of funding.
The UK government should lead on reforming the global tax system to tackle tax avoidance around the world. The chancellor’s support for public country-by-country reporting is a good start, but we need a concrete plan as to how this will be implemented to ensure multinational companies start paying their fair share.
Among the 107 media organisations around the globe who are poring over the files is Fusion, the US news channel and website. Here’s their run-through of what they describe as an insight into the world of the “parallel universe for the ultra-rich and ultra-powerful”. It comes with an illustration (below) even more ambitious than those done by Sddeutsche Zeitung. And much more colourful.
Illustration of Fusion’s main page on the Panama Papers revelations. Photograph: Fusion.net
My colleague Shaun Walker in Moscow has the Russian reaction so far – such as it is – to the stories connected to Vladimir Putin:
In Russia there has so far been a muted response to the leaks involving president Vladimir Putin’s inner circle, which were published here by the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta.
While serious newspapers such as Vedomosti ran detailed articles on the Panama documents on Monday, there was no mention of the leaks on state television and little mention by the country’s main news agencies.
So far there has been no reaction from the Kremlin, though Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov pre-empted the story last week, after receiving a request for comment on the allegations. Peskov warned a smear story about Putin was being prepared and suggested it had been ordered by western intelligence agencies with the goal of discrediting Russia.
The leaks are the subject of lively debate on social media, but while Russian anti-corruption activists praised the investigation, some Russians even among the liberal opposition say the claims against Putin’s inner circle are perhaps unsurprising and not interesting.
Political and civil society activist Alena Popova wrote on Facebook: “For a western audience it would be a reason for a politician to resign, but here it isn’t a reason, it’s far from it… Society has become accustomed almost on a genetic level that politicians can steal from our pockets.”
In Britain the reaction to the files has also, thus far, been limited. The head of enforcement and compliance at HM Revenue & Customs, Jennie Grainger, said the organisation was seeking access to the material:
HMRC can confirm that we have already received a great deal of information on offshore companies, including in Panama, from a wide range of sources, which is currently the subject of intensive investigation.
We have asked the ICIJ to share the leaked data that they have obtained with us. We will closely examine this data and will act on it swiftly and appropriately.
Our message is clear: there are no safe havens for tax evaders and no-one should be in any doubt that the days of hiding money offshore are gone. The dishonest minority, who can most afford it, must pay their legal share of tax, like the honest majority already does.
Sddeutsche Zeitung shared the huge cache of files with the Washington DC-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), who in turn enlisted the assistance of dozens of media organisations around the works. The ICIJ has its own dedicated set of pages giving details of the story.
In the UK, as well as the Guardian the BBC is also covering the story in depth. It additionally has its own live blog today of reaction to the revelations.
The leak of the files first came to Sddeutsche Zeitung, the Munich-based daily newspaper. The paper explains (in English) the background of how it acquired the leak from a still-anonymous source. They also have a very illuminating video (partly in German but with English subtitles), explaining the genesis of the leak.
The paper also has a microsite containing all its stories on the subject, as well as some nicely retro accompanying illustrations (see below). There is a smaller selection of the stories in English.
New Zealand’s prime minister, John Key. Photograph: Joshua Roberts/ReutersNew Zealand’s prime minister, John Key, has defended his government’s tax record after the Panama Papers showed links to the country, connected to alleged offshore trusts set up by Maltese politicians and officials via New Zealand. Key told reporters:
New Zealand has had the same tax laws when it comes to trusts since 1988, they were reviewed by the OECD in 2013 and they gave New Zealand a clean bill of health. We also have extensive disclosure regimes and we are signatories to a network of treaties.
http://www.theguardian.com/news/live/2016/apr/04/panama-papers-global-reaction-to-huge-leak-of-offshore-tax-files-live
