Pandora Papers: rich and powerful scramble to deny wrongdoing, limit damage
- The Kremlin says no evidence of hidden wealth among Putin’s entourage, while Pakistan and India vow investigations
- Reports link leaked files to around 35 current and former national leaders, and more than 330 politicians and public officials in 91 countries and territories
The Czech prime minister, the king of Jordan and the chairman of a well-known Indian conglomerate were among global figures denying wrongdoing on Monday after the leak of what major news outlets called a secret trove of documents about offshore finance.
India said it would investigate cases linked to the data dump, known collectively as the “Pandora Papers”, while Pakistani Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin said officials named in the documents would be investigated – including himself.
The dump of more than 11.9 million records, amounting to about 2.94 terabytes of data, was five years after the leak known as the “Panama Papers” exposed how money was hidden by the wealthy in ways that law enforcement agencies could not detect.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a Washington-based network of reporters and media organisations, said the files are linked to about 35 current and former national leaders, and more than 330 politicians and public officials in 91 countries and territories.
It did not say how the files were obtained, and Reuters could not independently verify the reports or the documents detailed by the consortium.
