PANDORA PAPERS

                                                                  PANDORA PAPERS

THE BIGGEST EXPOSURE OF BLACK MONEY…….

    

•  The word pandora has roots in Greek Mythology which means ‘Source of Unforeseen trouble’. 
•  PANDORA PAPERS deal with Financial data leaks which shows how rich people avoid paying taxes. It contains names of many billionaires, public figures, Politicians, Government officers, sportspersons.
•  It is considered as biggest exposure of finance industry in history.

WHAT DOES IT CONTAIN???

• The data has been obtained by ICIJ a group of 600 Journalists from different countries. 
• 2 years ago ICIJ received a tip about this data.
• This data contains 12 million leaked files, 14 global corporate service firms that have control over 29 thousand off-shore companies, 6.4 million documents, 2 to 3 million images, 4 lakh spreadsheets, 1 million emails, and more than 3 TB data.
• It tells us how rich people invest their money in other countries and save taxes.

HOW DOES IT WORK ???

• Most of these people create their companies, foundations, and trusts in tax heaven countries ( countries with zero tax or low tax) through wealth managers or middlemen. They don’t use their name.
• They use a bank account of these companies for purchasing properties or other luxurious things or for receiving payments.
• As these companies belong to tax heaven countries they don’t need to pay income tax or sales tax, thus they avoid paying taxes.
• As per the laws of tax heaven countries, it is difficult to identify and reach the owner.
• Some tax heaven countries are Panama, Antigua, Bermuda, Cayman Islands.  

Is it legal???

• The question which arises in our mind is that whether it is legal or not.
• But when we study it in deep, it is not illegal according to the constitutions of many governments, as people use loopholes of the constitution and tax system.
• But it is unethical and it will become dangerous when terrorist organizations or criminals use these loopholes and try to hide their money in tax heaven countries.
• To stop such things there should be some regulations and rules worldwide.
• As per the latest news, 136 countries agree on Minimum Corporate Tax.
• According to ICIJ the investments in these papers is greater than the GDP of the USA.
• Will exploitation of loopholes in the tax system stop? Let’s see what time will tell…..

From: Ganesh Deshmukh

Assistant Alumni Relations Officer, ELESA