The Paradise Papers

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.

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.

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.

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.

Our Senior Campaigner Peter Jones talks about the new light the Paradise Papers throw on Global Witness's previous investigations of Glencore and the urgent need for the commodities giant to face an investigation for bribery and corruption, particularly over its Congo deals. Read our full statement here. 

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. 

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. Read our statement in full 

Our Head of EU Advocacy Rachel Owens explains why the Paradise Papers revelations add pressure for EU to agree to publicly reveal the true owners of companies and trusts.

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. Read our statement in full

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.

Our campaigner Naomi Hirst lists the five things the government said it would do (but hasn’t) and calls for the Prime Minister to make good on the promises her government made at the International Anti-Corruption Summit just last year.

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

Campaigner Nienke Palstra responds to the Panama Papers leaks with a reminder this is also a story about corruption and money laundering - and why the UK government needs to act.

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. Read our statement in full here 

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 here.

Briefings to download:

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.