Russian roulette
Russians were the highest among all nationalities represented in the data.
Russians were the highest among all nationalities represented in the data.
The report by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a network of more than 600 journalists including Indian, revealed the way world leaders and billionaire business people have used shell companies and offshore tax havens to park undeclared wealth.
The biggest stumbling block to booking the persons involved in money laundering and large-scale tax evasion is the tedious procedure for exchange of information. Tax havens are understandably reluctant to share information but no country in the world is willing to part with information that has the potential of harming its citizens, so, procedural reasons are routinely cited to deny the request for information from foreign jurisdictions.
The files were provided to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), and hundreds of journalists have spent 18 months trawling through the nearly 12 million files.
According to the report, National Bank President Arif Usmani incorporated a company, Sasa Partners Inc, in the BVI offshore tax havens in March 2018. It added that the Pandora Papers revealed him to be the company's beneficial owner where he kept bankable assets.
