[News] Pandora Papers: Secret wealth and dealings of world leaders exposed

[Titanic]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-58780465

The secret wealth and dealings of world leaders, politicians and billionaires has been exposed in one of the biggest leaks of financial documents.

Some 35 current and former leaders and more than 300 public officials are featured in the files from offshore companies, dubbed the Pandora Papers.

"The Pandora Papers is a leak of almost 12 million documents and files exposing the secret wealth and dealings of world leaders, politicians and billionaires. The data was obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in Washington DC and has led to one of the biggest ever global investigations. More than 600 journalists from 117 countries have looked at the hidden fortunes of some of the most powerful people on the planet. BBC Panorama and the Guardian have led the investigation in the UK."

 

[clapham_gull]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-58780465

The secret wealth and dealings of world leaders, politicians and billionaires has been exposed in one of the biggest leaks of financial documents.

Some 35 current and former leaders and more than 300 public officials are featured in the files from offshore companies, dubbed the Pandora Papers.

"The Pandora Papers is a leak of almost 12 million documents and files exposing the secret wealth and dealings of world leaders, politicians and billionaires. The data was obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in Washington DC and has led to one of the biggest ever global investigations. More than 600 journalists from 117 countries have looked at the hidden fortunes of some of the most powerful people on the planet. BBC Panorama and the Guardian have led the investigation in the UK."

It's on tomorrow night, but available on IPlayer now. There are so many documents this time, this is going to run for a few weeks I suspect.

 

[Chicken Run]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-58780465

The secret wealth and dealings of world leaders, politicians and billionaires has been exposed in one of the biggest leaks of financial documents.

Some 35 current and former leaders and more than 300 public officials are featured in the files from offshore companies, dubbed the Pandora Papers.

"The Pandora Papers is a leak of almost 12 million documents and files exposing the secret wealth and dealings of world leaders, politicians and billionaires. The data was obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in Washington DC and has led to one of the biggest ever global investigations. More than 600 journalists from 117 countries have looked at the hidden fortunes of some of the most powerful people on the planet. BBC Panorama and the Guardian have led the investigation in the UK."

I see Britain’s very own war crim avoided 300k worth of tax……

 

[lawros left foot]

Forgive my cynicism,but it's going to be like the 3 previous leaks of these type of papers.
Nothing that damning gets released, a few billionaires get mildly embarassed, no one goes to prison, the rich carry on exploiting everything that they can,same as always.

 

[Comrade Sam]

Wow what a surprise, the ruling class are a bunch of corrupt scumbags.

 

[Westdene Seagull]

More proof that Blair is a scumbag.

 

[Weststander]

Is this entirely new information, that is, not already found out from the Panama Papers, or from the information Germany secretly bought from insiders in Lux and Germany?

 

[portlock seagull]

Forgive my cynicism,but it's going to be like the 3 previous leaks of these type of papers.
Nothing that damning gets released, a few billionaires get mildly embarassed, no one goes to prison, the rich carry on exploiting everything that they can,same as always.

That’s because the poor ain’t angry enough, or maybe, are comfortable enough not to care. Face it, most people won’t read the headline never mind the detailed scandal this is. We get the politicians we deserve really. They get away with it because they can.

 

[clapham_gull]

Is this entirely new information, that is, not already found out from the Panama Papers, or from the information Germany secretly bought from insiders in Lux and Germany?

Appears to be new and originating from a variety of companies rather than a single one with the Panama Papers.

The Blair story is a bit of a non story in my opinion unless there is more to come out. I can't stand the man, but doesn't appear to done much wrong here.

 

[Swansman]

That’s because the poor ain’t angry enough, or maybe, are comfortable enough not to care. Face it, most people won’t read the headline never mind the detailed scandal this is. We get the politicians we deserve really. They get away with it because they can.

Meh. The right think "culture" is controlling/****ing up the the world, the left think it is "politicians". But the power is in finance and we're programmed to ignore it.

 

[durrington gull]

Forgive my cynicism,but it's going to be like the 3 previous leaks of these type of papers.
Nothing that damning gets released, a few billionaires get mildly embarassed, no one goes to prison, the rich carry on exploiting everything that they can,same as always.

Yep, and nothing will ever change either

 

[larus]

Meh. The right think "culture" is controlling/****ing up the the world, the left think it is "politicians". But the power is in finance and we're programmed to ignore it.

All the time the ‘people’ keep on with the delusion that voting really makes a difference, those with real power keep getting away with it.

Divide and conquer. It’s all a game. All the time the masses are focussed on Left/Right we’re missing the big picture. Throw into to mix any new “scare” story from time to time to keep the masses in fear, after all, fear has been used since the beginning of time to control people; religion, commies, Germans, French, Russians, Spanish etc. I wonder what current scares are being used to control people and make them comply to strict rules? Hmm.

 

[Eric Potts]

All the time the ‘people’ keep on with the delusion that voting really makes a difference, those with real power keep getting away with it.

Divide and conquer. It’s all a game. All the time the masses are focussed on Left/Right we’re missing the big picture. Throw into to mix any new “scare” story from time to time to keep the masses in fear, after all, fear has been used since the beginning of time to control people; religion, commies, Germans, French, Russians, Spanish etc. I wonder what current scares are being used to control people and make them comply to strict rules? Hmm.

Blimey larus , you don't think that Covid is not what it seems.

 

[Guinness Boy]

All the time the ‘people’ keep on with the delusion that voting really makes a difference, those with real power keep getting away with it.

Divide and conquer. It’s all a game. All the time the masses are focussed on Left/Right we’re missing the big picture. Throw into to mix any new “scare” story from time to time to keep the masses in fear, after all, fear has been used since the beginning of time to control people; religion, commies, Germans, French, Russians, Spanish etc. I wonder what current scares are being used to control people and make them comply to strict rules? Hmm.

Define "scare story"?

Though you're certainly correct about the Brexit vote in that assessment.

 

[Machiavelli]

Forgive my cynicism,but it's going to be like the 3 previous leaks of these type of papers.
Nothing that damning gets released, a few billionaires get mildly embarassed, no one goes to prison, the rich carry on exploiting everything that they can,same as always.

You've missed something off: the public will either ignore it, register it but feel incapable of acting upon it, pick up on some insignificant detail about it (eg Blair) and anyone who does provide explanations for how to confront it will be dismissed as not having sufficient plans to be able to devise a new system or as a bunch of revolutionaries.

 

[Machiavelli]

Meh. The right think "culture" is controlling/****ing up the the world, the left think it is "politicians". But the power is in finance and we're programmed to ignore it.

This started off well, went downhill rapidly, and then got to the nub of things.
The left are fully aware that finance holds the key. It's doing something about it that's a tad trickier, given that finance has exceeded and escaped national borders and, currently, there's nothing that national organisations can do about it.

 

[Machiavelli]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-58780465

The secret wealth and dealings of world leaders, politicians and billionaires has been exposed in one of the biggest leaks of financial documents.

Some 35 current and former leaders and more than 300 public officials are featured in the files from offshore companies, dubbed the Pandora Papers.

"The Pandora Papers is a leak of almost 12 million documents and files exposing the secret wealth and dealings of world leaders, politicians and billionaires. The data was obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in Washington DC and has led to one of the biggest ever global investigations. More than 600 journalists from 117 countries have looked at the hidden fortunes of some of the most powerful people on the planet. BBC Panorama and the Guardian have led the investigation in the UK."

Thanks for posting. A couple of questions:
1, do you think that the Conservatives are well placed to do anything about this, or is their plan to 'conserve' things? If you go for the former, you'll have to (try and) explain how.
2, do you think that Brexit was a ploy (organised and funded by Tory donors, hedge funds, etc) to deflect attention away from the inequalities that have emerged as a result of such practices, and that Brexit makes it more difficult for the UK to do anything about it?

 

[Weststander]

Appears to be new and originating from a variety of companies rather than a single one with the Panama Papers.

The Blair story is a bit of a non story in my opinion unless there is more to come out. I can't stand the man, but doesn't appear to done much wrong here.

What was interesting from all the Lux/Panama/Switz papers was that there were literally 100,000’s of rich Germans and French folk, living in France and Germany, engaged in offshore illegal tax evasion. Some eye watering sums per individual.

An eye opener to me. Naively, perhaps I listen too much to ‘bad news’ about this country, I had subconsciously thought it an English speaking world thing, plus the obvious likes of the former USSR and Italy.

Money corrupts.

 

[Weststander]

FYI.

HMRC have been compiling detailed analysis of the tax gap for 16 years, as a proportion of the theoretical total tax take if every person and entity paid their true liabilities. This is comprehensive, it covers every type of tax payer, every type of tax and duty, and evasion, fraud, ‘mistake’, simply failure to pay, avoidance, ‘open to legal interpretation’ such as schemes used by celebs, hidden economy and criminal attacks.

View attachment 141029

Despite ill informed hearsay, the gap’s steadily falling. I know through my work that HMRC now have savvy teams targeting the right people and businesses. Electronic filing has really helped.

 

[larus]

Blimey larus , you don't think that Covid is not what it seems.

I don’t wish to derail the thread so I won’t comment anymore. All I will say is, yes, I do believe there is a covid virus, however, I don’t agree with the response which has been implemented. I realise that this will not be what the majority believe, but that doesn’t mean the majority is right. Group-think.

Throughout time, the majority always believe the propaganda, so just because the majority agree with something doesn’t make it true. Just think about history and what people have believed because they’ve been told by people in power/authority.

If you make people scared enough, you can make them do whatever you want within reason.

In regards taxation and the elite, the left want to impose higher tax rates on those who maybe earn £100k+ a year, but that’s not the issue. The issues is the super rich and large corporations getting away with it, and the ‘plebs’ argue amongst themselves over left/right, Labour/Con, Republican/Democrat and the elite keep laughing. As Bliar has proven, once most people get their snout in the trough they’ll lose their morals.