Fraud is not an uncommon thing in today’s day and age, it doesn’t surprise us anymore, the only element of surprise is the magnitude of the fraud and if you talk about the sheer size, let’s talk about Pandora Papers that unfolded a couple of days back.
Context
Financial frauds have been happening for a long time, and they’re mostly concerned with tax evasion or manipulation of accounts and assets alike.
So, on those lines, we have the most significant and expansive financial fraud ever: The Pandora Papers.
Deep dive
Think about it, when 600 journalists from 150 media outlets try to investigate something, will be it a trivial issue?
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists sifted through 3 TB (terabyte) of data, for context, it’s equal to 750,000 photos on your smartphone to have some solid findings of the matter!
Panama Papers of 2016
Pandora Papers is not a once in a while issue, you can think of it as more of a wake-up call. The world back in 2016 witnessed Panama Papers when now-defunct law firm Mossack Ponseca investigated 2.6 TB worth of data.
The only difference is this time around, there are 14 such law firms and a lot more data!
What does the investigation say?
The report raises a quite straightforward point: the top richest people across the globe, be it billionaires, celebrities, religious leaders, politicians, etc are evading taxes and hiding assets to the tune of trillions of dollars.
People open up accounts in offshore tax havens like the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, etc to stash all their illegal cash.
What are some popular names?
To start with, the King of Jamaica Abdullah II incorporated three dozen shell companies to buy property across the US, UK, etc worth $106 Million. Moreover, officials in the circles of Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan & Vladimir Putin are also involved
The report mostly pertains to the financial information of the past 25 years.
Income inequality
In a time when income inequality is rife, such revealings only compound the growing gap between the rich and poor. If we want to have an environment of inequitable growth, we need to curb such substantial fraud.
The Pakistan govt says that it will look into the issue and take action accordingly, more such actions & steps will be required to make a dent! Otherwise, things won’t be that easy.
What do you think?