| Hi there, All this week teasers have been circulating of a major new exposé of the offshore financial sector. Remember the Panama Papers back in 2016? That was when thousands of documents from a Panamanian law firm called Mossack Fonseca were leaked to journalists, leading to a flood of stories about how people and companies were trying to hide money, some of it corrupt.
While we won’t know all the details of these latest revelations until Sunday evening, some appear to be related to an offshore law firm, similar in some respects to Mossack Fonseca. Already last week, early indications suggested that some of the allegations will centre around wealthy individuals avoiding tax on their private jets. Whatever emerges over the weekend, one thing is clear: the era of financial secrecy has to end. Too many places are acting as safe havens for illicit cash. The same kinds of complex financial structures that enable the wealthy to reduce their tax burden are also susceptible to money-laundering and other illegal activity. Oversight is often lacking, and regulators aren’t using the legal tools they have. In the United States, the week began with news that senior political operatives had been indicted for illicit financial transactions using a “tangled skein of offshore companies”. These hidden payments may be related to efforts to lobby on behalf of a foreign government, without disclosing the amounts of money being paid or their source. Isn’t that reason enough to demand closer scrutiny? | 