The Paradise Papers

New revelations from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) have shone a fresh light on a secret world of tax havens and offshore financial deals.

These structures allow lawyers, bankers and other professionals to protect their wealthy and powerful clients' cash from tax officials or hide their dealings behind a veil of secrecy.

At the centre of the revelations is Appleby, one of the world’s biggest offshore law firms, with huge clients including commodities giant Glencore, oil major Shell, Goldman Sachs and HSBC. 

This isn’t just a story about tax. As we have previously exposed, the secrecy sold in the offshore world enables terrorism, money laundering and sanctions-busting.

It allows dirty money into our property market and banks, and lets scammers rip off honest investors and businesspeople.

As news outlets across the world break stories on the Paradise Papers from 5 November 2017 onwards, we will be updating this page with our responses, insights – and how together we can clean up the financial system that allows powerful elites to profit at the expense of the rest.

A week in paradise

The Paradise Papers have blown open the secret practices of the UK's tax havens, but tax evasion is just one small part of the story. Watch our video round-up of the week's revelations.

Glencore

FTSE100 company Glencore's secret offshore dealings exposed

The Paradise Papers reveal damning details of Glencore’s business deals in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it owns two huge copper and cobalt mines. 

Confidential board minutes show that Dan Gertler, a notorious middleman in Congo, personally negotiated mining licences in favour of Katanga Mining – a company Glencore was in the process of taking over.

Glencore pushed for Gertler to take on this role, and provided him with tens of millions of dollars in loans and options as a reward. 

We’re calling for a criminal investigation into Glencore’s Congo deals. Read our statement in full.

It’s past time for an investigation into Glencore’s murky operations

Since 2012 we’ve exposed Glencore’s transactions in the Democratic Republic of Congo with Dan Gertler, a billionaire mining magnate and a close friend of Congolese President Joseph Kabila.

Over the course of a ten-year partnership, Glencore pumped cash, loans and shares worth over half a billion dollars into offshore companies owned by Gertler, which allowed him to make at least $67 million in risk-free profit.

Several of these transactions didn’t make much obvious commercial sense for Glencore – unless they were intended as a means for "rewarding" Gertler, the president’s friend.

Read our blog on why it's well past time for corporate behemoth Glencore to face investigations into its deals with Gertler in Congo.

European Union

Leaks underline how little the EU has done to tackle offshore secrecy

The EU has so far failed to respond to the Panama Papers. These fresh leaks once again expose a damaging rogue system that enables crime, corruption and wrongdoing, hidden by secretive offshore companies and trusts. 

EU must act now

The leaks  pile huge pressure on the EU to finally crack down on corporate secrecy, corruption and money laundering ahead of crucial negotiations in Brussels next week.

UK government inaction

Pressure on UK government to open up its tax havens

The Papers pile huge pressure on the UK government to open up its tax havens, with the top five jurisdictions for hidden deals all UK Overseas Territories or Crown Dependencies.

Five things the UK government said it would do (but hasn't) since the Panama papers to tackle corruption

Nearly two years since the release of the Panama Papers and now with the release of the Paradise Papers the UK government has done nothing to tackle corruption.

Not only has it failed to deliver on its commitments to tackle the root causes of tax evasion, corruption and money laundering.

It needs to strengthen its efforts to make good on its overdue promises.

Find out more in our blog.

Factcheck: Premier of Bermuda misled BBC Today programme listeners over tax haven secrecy

David Burt, the Premier of Bermuda, misled listeners on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme about Bermuda’s efforts to tackle the corporate secrecy that enables tax avoidance, evasion, corruption and money laundering this morning.

In response to the Paradise Papers revelations, he was asked  “Your register of ownership is not public, it is secret,” Mr Burt replied.

“Our register of ownership is public and not secret. The fact is that Bermuda has known who the beneficial owners of our companies have been for over 70 years.”

This is not true. Bermuda does not have a public register of beneficial ownership.

Read more on our blog.

United States

Wilbur Ross: Another instance of conflicts of interest within the Trump administration

According to the documents, Trump-appointed U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross used a constellation of companies,  some with their ownership undisclosed.

The companies were set up by Appleby to retain shares in Navigator Holdings, a shipping firm with business ties to a Russian oligarch subject to American sanctions.

Paradise Papers expose "flight" risks posed by anonymous companies and private U.S. aircraft

The Paradise Papers leaks also highlight the role of US banks in selling secrecy to foreign individuals seeking to register aircraft in the US – even those with links to companies under US sanctions.

See our full statement.

Other Global Witness blogs on and briefings on this issue:

• 10 lessons learned from the UK's public register of the real owners of companies
• 8 reasons why public registers of companies are necessary
• An idiots' guide to money laundering
• Can the EU can learn from the Azerbaijani laundromat scandal in tackling anonymous company ownership

Appleby states it has thoroughly and vigorously investigated the Paradise Papers allegations and is satisfied that there is no evidence of any wrongdoing by themselves or their clients.