Originally published in Risk Advisory, 2016.
The term “Panama Papers” has become a by-word for financial skulduggery. On 3 April 2016, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists revealed that it had a cache of more than 11 million leaked files from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. These papers disclosed details of heads of state, ministers and elected officials who had set up offshore companies to conceal bribery, arms deals, tax evasion, financial fraud and drug trafficking. The Panama Papers represented a web of deception devised to obscure ownership. Twenty years ago, secrecy was a fundamental tenet of banking and finance. Today, new regulations are being brought in to erode secrecy and promote transparency. The Panama Papers’ leak provides added impetus. The combined effect is that companies need to take a fresh look at how they do business and who they do business with.
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