On October 3, 2021, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) released the Pandora Papers. The Pandora Papers is a compilation of over 11.9 million records of leaked files from “14 different offshore companies.” As many as “330 politicians” and “130 Forbes billionaires” were involved, alongside a global list of leaders, celebrities, and criminals. This year-long investigation by a group of diligent journalists reinforces the urgent need for “greater financial transparency,” where lack of regulation enables corruption, deceit, and greed. The wealthy must be held accountable amidst worsening income inequality. 

The ICIJ states that these files come from “14 different offshore [financial] services” such as “trusts” and “shell companies.” The practice of “offshoring” allows one to place assets and wealth overseas, including but not limited to “cash, shares (a piece of ownership of a company), or real estate,” according to the Washington Post. In doing so, individuals can enjoy lax tax laws in other countries, hidden from the purview of domestic financial regulatory institutions that would tax them for such assets. 

Additionally, offshoring can offer “impenetrable secrecy” regarding all financial activity. A mechanism that enables this privacy stems from “banks, law firms,” and “industry-friendly lawmakers” that purposefully create complex legal protections. Strategic connections with these entities offer significant advantages to those seeking to hide their wealth. The creation of “anonymous companies” is another method employed to hide assets. The New York Times reports that these types of corporations are “not required to identify owners” or their “beneficiary owners,” assisting in concealing the movement of wealth abroad. These structures ultimately help “obscure” true ownership of the assets, making the task of back-tracing extremely difficult. 

However, leaked documents from 14 offshoring companies such as Alcogal, Trident Trust, and Asiaciti Trust helped journalists piece together this investigation. According to the ICIJ, access to leaked “2.94 terabytes” of images, PDFs, spreadsheets, and documents enabled journalists to pinpoint the flow of assets spanning over the past years. According to CNN, individuals affiliated with this offshoring, such as beneficiary owners, were tracked from over 90 countries and states, including Panama, Pakistan, Jordan, Kenya, South Dakota, and Florida. 

Czechia’s Prime Minister Andrej Babiš is one of the high-profile politicians implicated in this investigation, worth $3.4 Billion according to Forbes. Babiš was found to have “secretly moved 22 million through offshore companies” to purchase new real estate in France. This purchase was possible through “a succession of secret loans,” where he financed “three companies” through the “Panamanian law firm Alcogal.” The Guardian states Babiš was able to acquire “Château Bigaud” in Mougins, France. Despite Babiš’s promises in 2017 to “crack down on tax avoidance” and challenge the wealthy elite in his country, he ended up guilty of embodying the forces he vowed to weaken. Other politicians associated with ICIJ’s findings include Jordanian King Abdullah II, current Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, and Ex-British Prime Minister Tony Blair. 

The release of the Pandora Papers unveils the design of an intricate financial network that benefits the global economic elite. Access to institutions and lawmakers who can conveniently create and exploit loopholes in the economic system indicates the necessity for stronger “international regulations” and due diligence practices to inhibit “tax avoidance.” Politicians, who are of service to the public, must also be held legally responsible for fraud. Immediate accountability for these malpractices, in combination with long-term policy change, can gradually move the world toward a more equitable system.