Panama Papers: 'Massive Money Laundering' Involving Some Country Leaders and Reference to Ahmadinejad

The German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung has obtained new documents regarding the 'massive money laundering' activities of some country leaders as well as prominent sports and political figures, which have been shared with a group of investigative journalists. This group has published part of these documents, which could be considered one of the largest revelations of its kind in history. According to Agence France-Presse, this group reports the disclosure of financial documents from an international law firm based in Panama, Central America. Eleven million documents have been leaked from this Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca. According to the report, this firm helps wealthy individuals from around the world to store their money in other countries to avoid paying taxes. Among the names revealed in the documents from this firm are Vladimir Putin, the President of Russia, Pavlo Lazarenko, the former Prime Minister of Ukraine, Lionel Messi, a football player, and Petro Poroshenko, the current President of Ukraine. The German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote on Sunday, April 15, that the leaked Panama documents also mention individuals who have been sanctioned by the US and European countries due to their economic ties with terrorist organizations or governments like North Korea, Iran, and Syria. According to this newspaper, several Iranian state-owned companies are also mentioned in these documents, which apparently operated to circumvent global oil sanctions. The newspaper reports that when one of the employees at the Mossack Fonseca office asked a colleague in London about the owners of these companies, the colleague wrote in an email that the owner of these companies is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the then President of the Islamic Republic. The group that disclosed this information, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), states that to obtain this information, they reviewed emails from previous years and details of many individuals' passports. The ICIJ, a non-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., has published its findings in a report titled 'Panama Papers.' According to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, these documents, known as the 'Panama Papers,' track the money laundering activities of prominent individuals from the 1970s to the spring of 2016. Since obtaining these documents, the newspaper has shared the information with a hundred news organizations and nearly 400 journalists from 80 different countries. Reports indicate that the 'Panama Papers' contain the names of 72 current or former political leaders worldwide, some of whom are well-known dictators. This information includes details about companies linked to the families of former Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak, Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, and the current President of Syria, Bashar al-Assad. According to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, this report also indicates billion-dollar money laundering by a Russian bank linked to Vladimir Putin. The ICIJ claims to have uncovered a network of close associates of Vladimir Putin involved in laundering over two billion dollars. The authors of this investigative report have stated that they requested the Russian government to comment on their findings but received a negative response from the Kremlin. Nevertheless, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin spokesperson, accused journalists of attempting to, as he put it, tarnish Vladimir Putin's image. In another section of these documents, companies with similar activities are mentioned, which are managed by the prime ministers of Iceland and Pakistan, the children of the President of Azerbaijan, the King of Saudi Arabia, and several other global figures. This report has so far been published by several news organizations in various languages. Edward Snowden, who in 2013 revealed secrets of the US National Security Agency regarding phone surveillance of American citizens and has been residing in Russia since then, tweeted on Sunday that this revelation regarding financial corruption is considered the largest information journalism disclosure in history. More details about individuals named in these documents have been announced by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), stating that the 'Panama Papers' include financial information from 214,488 companies and 14,153 clients of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. This non-profit group has added that it will soon publish a complete list of companies and individuals related to this case. According to these documents, the family of Xi Jinping, the President of China, the father of David Cameron, the current Prime Minister of the UK, and Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, the Prime Minister of Iceland, secretly invested in Panamanian banks during the global economic crisis. The 'Panama Papers' also shed new light on the corruption case within the International Federation of Football (FIFA). Part of the released documents confirms that Juan Pedro Damiani, a member of FIFA's ethics committee, had dealings with three men who were being pursued for illegal transactions. According to these documents, a Panamanian shell company also assisted in hiding millions of dollars obtained from the theft of gold bars in the UK. The Associated Press also reported on Tuesday, April 16, that the financial activities of more than 800 wealthy Australians are under investigation by the country's tax office due to potential connections with these released documents. Amitabh Bachchan, a Bollywood star, and Jackie Chan, a Hong Kong star, are also among the celebrities from the entertainment world whose tax evasion documents have been released. According to the 'Panama Papers,' Indian Amitabh Bachchan manages at least four transportation companies that were registered and established 23 years ago for tax evasion purposes. The Indian Express newspaper reported that the authorized capital of these companies ranges from five to fifty thousand dollars, but their trade in the transportation sector has been millions of dollars. According to these reports, Aishwarya Rai, Amitabh Bachchan's daughter-in-law, who is a shareholder and manager of one of the registered money laundering companies, has also evaded taxes by exploiting tax havens, along with her family members. These documents mention the names of 500 Indian individuals, including real estate moguls in the country, who are listed in the Mossack Fonseca company records, highlighting the situation in Delhi regarding tax evasion and money laundering. Jackie Chan, a star from the Hong Kong film industry, also has at least six companies represented by the Fonseca company, which may have been registered for legitimate business rather than tax evasion. The family of Nawaz Sharif, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, whose name appears in the published documents, has defended their ownership of tax havens. Of Mr. Sharif's four children, three of them are mentioned in these documents; his daughter Maryam, who is referred to as continuing her father's political legacy, and his sons Hasan and Hussain, whose registered companies in London are linked to Panamanian tax havens.