An assemblage of secret data made public, exposing how the richest people on the globe have been playing foul has confirmed that the roots of corruption embedded within the Pandora Papers reach Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa, Mozambique among others.
The complex network of tax avoidance featured 336 politicians according to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which published the earth-shaking papers on Sunday.
Although the detail of SA’s involvement is yet to be made public, 56,493 links to Southern Africa have been confirmed. Zimbabwean tycoon Billy Rautenbach who was a fugitive in South Africa for ten years, has been implicated in the papers.
What Are the Pandora Papers?
The Pandora Papers refer to a leak of about 12 million documents revealing secret wealth, tax avoidance, and, in some cases, money laundering by some of the world’s powerful persons.
It is one of the biggest collaborative efforts in the history of investigative journalism with over 600 journalists in 117 countries involved in the investigation and findings released on Sunday evening.
The data leak itself is unprecedented in its size. Almost 1,000 companies in offshore havens and 336 high-level politicians and public officials, including more than a dozen serving heads of state and government, were listed.
World leaders like former UK PM Tony Blair, ex-President of Italy Silvio Berlusconi, and top officials in Pakistan’s Cabinet have all been accused of stashing away their taxable wealth.
Ten Nigerian politicians were equally implicated in the document where eight (8) African countries featured.
According to an interactive map of the leaked documents, five Côte d’Ivoire politicians were helped by foreign agents to hoard money suspected to be looted away from public view.
Three politicians from Ghana were listed in the documents, which has been described as “An offshore data tsunami.”
The document which reportedly sent shivers down the spines of public figures globally had three Gabonese, two politicians each from Chad, Kenya and Congo Brazzaville listed while Angola had nine.
Current Presidents, Leaders Implicated by Pandora Papers
In total, 15 serving national leaders have been identified by the Pandora Papers
Heads of state:
Abdullah II, King of Jordan
Luis Abinader, President of the Dominican Republic
Ilham Aliyev, President of Azerbaijan
Milo Đukanović, President of Montenegro
Uhuru Kenyatta, President of Kenya
Denis Sassou Nguesso, President of the Republic of the Congo
Ali Bongo Ondimba, President of Gabon
Sebastián Piñera, President of Chile
Guillermo Lasso, President of Ecuador
Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar
Volodymyr Zelensky, President of Ukraine
Heads of government:
Patrick Achi, Prime Minister of Côte d’Ivoire
Andrej Babiš, Prime Minister of the Czech Republic
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and Emir of Dubai
Najib Mikati, Prime Minister of Lebanon.