The offshore world is one where information about company ownership is kept hidden from ordinary taxpayers and law enforcement authorities.
The publication of the Panama Papers in 2016 and the Paradise Papers in 2017 has laid bare the fact tax havens have been used by the world’s elite and wealthy to launder money, evade tax and finance dirty ventures.
The Guardian, for instance, exposed the Azerbaijan ruling elite’s secret £2.2bn scheme to buy luxury goods and launder money through a network of four opaque British companies – with the owners of two of them hidden through companies registered in the British Virgin Islands.
These unprecedented leaks of data have put the spotlight on a system that protects the rich and powerful through hard-to-trace companies and anonymous investment vehicles.
Following the revelations, Germany passed a new anti-offshore law called the “Panama Plan” and the UK has just voted on an amendment which could kick the door open on anonymous accounts in British overseas territories.
But for now, companies and individual business tycoons continue to use the offshore system to hide behind regulations protecting their identity. Over the years, the offshore system has enabled crime, corruption and wrongdoing but not much has been done to stop it.
