The Pandora Papers

Corruption, covert deals, and the hidden fortunes of the major rich and powerful are all contained in the Pandora Papers leak. Over 600 journalists collaborated to unveil the largest leak of information in recent history. There are more than 330 politicians in public office that are included within these leaks, according to El Pais. The Pandora papers contain about 12 million files amassing an absurd total of about 2.93 Terabytes.

The data was collected by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in Washington DC, according to BBC news. The ICIJ is a large group of journalists that have already uncovered documents like this in the past. The pandora papers uncovered many hidden offshore businesses run by the rich and powerful. Offshore is another way of saying that the companies are set up across borders so that the money being laundered is far harder to track. An offshore business is not illegal, however money laundering is very illegal and offshore businesses are a common method of laundering. Money laundering s the act of using a business as a fake source of income to cover up where the money is really coming from.

There have been many examples of politicians that have used tax havens and loopholes to avoid paying some money in taxes. In the pandora papers it exposes several of these individuals including the president of Chile, according to BBC. The pandora papers uncovered President Sebastian Pinera’s secret business dealings and tax evasion. Lawmakers in Chile are now pushing for him to be impeached due to the corrupt nature of these findings. BBC reports that “He has denied any wrongdoing”.The pandora papers have shed a light on major global corruption and as more comes out hopefully more will be done about it.