Introduction-
The Panama Papers Leak case revealed global tax evasion, money laundering through offshore accounts, implicating politicians, celebrities. Ethics and law are two different things, can any immoral thing be made legal by making a law! The elite class of any country wants to avoid paying tax or opposes the increase in tax. The government of any country uses the tax money for the convenience of the majority of the general public. The struggle for which democracy should be established in the world has always been there and the elite class has been winning continuously.
Corruption and crime, if the government of any country wants, it can end it, but till date it has not been possible for any country. So it should come as no surprise that cases like the Panama Papers leak. The names of 500 people have come in this paper leak from India, in which no one has time to know what happened next. If there is any action on an elite, then it is motivated only by politics which ends with some settlement.
In most of the cases, if a person of elite class has been punished, that evidence is very less, whether it is America or India, this evidence is negligible. Ordinary citizens do not have anything to do with such cases, but we do not know how important such cases are for social change. We can say that in a country where citizens are more aware, corruption and crime are less.Therefore, through this article, we will try to know in detail what is the Panama Papers leak case. We will try to write this information neutral, otherwise most of the articles are influenced by some idea which cannot give justice to any subjects.
What is Panama Paper Leak Case?
Jürgen Mossack was a German lawyer who founded the company in Panama City, which was later joined by Ramon Fonseca in 1986 and later joined by the third director, Christopher Zollinger, who was a citizen of Switzerland. It was an international law firm that acted as a commercial law and investment advisor. It was a world’s biggest international scam, which increased by evading taxes and investing money earned illegally in their own country.
This document of 11.5 million papers is this computer data of 2.6 tera byte, which took a long time for ICIJ to check this organization and it was published in 2016. For this investigation, this intelligence investigation was started by the ICIJ through 100 media houses from around the world and journalists from 76 countries, which were published together secretly through a legal contract.
John Doe has been the main character of this Panama Papers leak, who first gave this information to the German media house “Süddeutsche Zeitung”, through which this case was given to the ICIJ organization for investigation due to its huge size. This has been the modus operandi of money manipulation which is associated with Pandora Paper Lick in which the names of many celebrities, businessmen and politicians have come out.
Panama Paper Leak Case & India Connection –
In 2016, this information has come to the notice of the world, about 500 names have come in this list from India, which are quite high profile names, including the names of like Bachchan family, Vijay Mallya, Ajay Devgan and Iqbal Mirchi. This crime has not yet been proven in the court of India and its investigation is going on in the court, for which the government has set up a joint commission, which includes officials from the Reserve Bank to the ED.
20000 crores Indian rupees have been invested in Panama paper leak from India, which is the details of the last forty years by a total of 500 people. Countries where tax is very low and in America and Germany we keep personal information secret, but here the tax rate is very high. There are many small countries like Panama, where it is considered a tax haven country, in such countries, this legal firm invests the money of big and wealthy people from all over the world.
Black money has been the problem of almost all the developing and poor countries, after globalization, China and India together started the capitalist Economy system. In which foreign exports have been the most important reason for the development of China, India has not been much successful in exports. The biggest reason for which has been this corruption, both the cases like Pandora Paper and Panama Paper, there is money laundering of money in the same way, in which the money of wealthy people of the country is invested and there is no record of it in India.
Who is Mossack Fonseca & Company? -,
Mossack Fonseca This is a Panama- Republic corporate firm founded by two individuals as the name would make sense. This company was established in 1977, which in 2016 became known to the whole world in the Panama Papers leak case, which is a very complex case from the point of view of the law. It is a corporate base international company with 48 branches across the world and around 2 lakh registered offshore companies.
The method of working of this company is quite complex, in which this company is registered in tax haven countries, whose benefits are available to the investors of these companies. The most important thing in this is that all these investors are eminent personalities of their respective countries, whose property details do not give this information. This company invests the money of these investors in that country completely legal, but this investor hides its source from their own country.
In 2016, this company came to the attention of everyone through the media around the world, which was published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which was the biggest sensational case in the world, due to which politicians of many countries quit their posts. On March 14, 2018, the company decided to shut itself down, mainly because the company was tarnished all over the world, due to which its credibility was eroded.
International Consortium of Investigative Journalist (ICIJ) –
It is an international association of non-profit journalists, which runs entirely on public funding, whose main objective is to maintain free and uninterrupted media freedom in countries around the world and to maintain democracy and freedom of speech. This organization has 280 journalist members from all over the country who come from 100 countries and do this work for important investigations which should reach the news to the people. Through this organization, 100 major media houses from all over the world are connected, in which media houses like BBC, New York Times and Guardian are there.
The organization came into the limelight when the Panama Paper link was reported by a caller by the name John Doe to German journalist Bastian Obermaier who worked for the “Süddeutsche Zeitung” newspaper. This scam was so big and its data was so much that it was not a matter of any single newspaper handle it, Then they contacted an NGO in America, which was ICIJ, through which this work went on for the next 8 months, for which investigation Journalists and media houses from all over the world were taken together.
The Indian Express of the Goenka Group was chosen for this investigation from India. This information will not be published till the completion of the entire investigation through this institution, it was decided by the media houses of all the member countries and together this information will be published after the completion of the entire investigation, it has been decided that all the members have honesty. This has been said by this institution. Through this Panama Paper Leak, the names of the Presidents of 12 countries and many famous personalities were there, so it was a very risky job.
Features of Panama Paper Leak Case –
- Panama Paper Leak This case is more than 10 million documents and if you say in the computer language, 2. 60 terabytes of data were so hacked.
- This information was given by a person by the name of John Doe, the German journalist Bastian Obermaier, through which this case came to the world.
- In the Panama Papers Leak, the heads of 12 countries and many famous personalities were named in it and many political leaders lost their seats.
- Through the Mossack Fonseco company, people used to make their money white by creating fake companies, for which tax haven countries were used, in which this money was used in countries like Hong Kong and Britain.
- Mossack Fonsecco This was a legal firm whose main business was run in 48 countries, through which many big celebrities used to invest their money in this company.
- Mossack Fonseco was the reason for investing in this company that this information was kept secret and there was no need to tell the source of this money in the country where this money was invested.
- 500 names came from India in this Panama Papers leak case, out of which recently in December 2021, a member of Bachchan family was called for an investigation by ED.
- The information about the Panama Papers leak was so much that no one media house could do it to investigate, so this work was taken up by ICIJ, this American NGO, which took 8 months to complete the investigation.
- This investigation was completed with the help of 280 journalists and 100 media houses from 100 countries around the world and this information was published on 3 April 2016.
- In the Panama Papers leak case, influential people from all over the world hide information from the people of their country by creating fake companies and keep this company in tax haven countries.
- On October 2020, the German government issued international arrest warrants to Mossack and Fonseco, who were directors of the Mossack Fonseco company, for tax evasion and opening a criminal firm.
- Due to not having extradition agreements these directors had not given to Gernman government and charges were trailed in Panama Jurisdiction and two month jail faced by them.
- This money was used to enter, to save tax, to launder money earned illegally and for terrorist activities.
Critical Analysis of Panama Paper Leak Case –
The original source of the Panama Papers leak was John Doe, who first reported the news to a German newspaper. Which was received by the journalist Bastian Obermaier. Who used to work for this newspaper “Süddeutsche Zeitung”. He asked this question to John Doe that why do you want to give this information, then he said that this is to end the problem of inequality and corruption. Even after the last five years, the situation has not changed in any country.
In most developing countries, most of the time elite people never get legal punishment and see only political and economic settlement. The names of Anna Hazare influential people came in this paper leak, but no information has been received by the media about how many of them have been punished. ISIJ, even if this organization is a non-profit organization which is run with public money, which can be used politically, it cannot be denied.
Most of them are countries that oppose capitalist democracy and how much impact this paper leak would have had in countries like Russia, China and North Korea is a matter of revision. Corruption and crime, the government of this country can end it whenever it wants, but it does not do it, it is very important to understand the politics behind it. Most people do not understand this politics, so there are many cases like Panama Paper Leak and Pandora Paper Leak, but the system continues as it is.
Legal Approach in Panama Paper Leak Case –
It was ordered by the Supreme Court of India to the Parliament that the matter should be investigated by forming a commission and the loopholes of the law should be reduced. Income tax and GST in India is much higher than in other countries, in countries like America and Germany, tax is also high, but the income of the citizens there is much higher than in India. Most of the people of India are dependent on the government, in which they are dependent for different economic plans ranging from jobs.
The government has to depend on more taxes to meet government schemes, and after 1990, government companies have been sold through privatization, so that the entire burden in the budget is dependent only on tax income. Most of the elite class sees the responsibility of paying tax as a loss, it is not seen as a social responsibility, so money is sent illegally through foreign banks and companies in the name of foreign investment in India .The another reason of corruption is most companies in India run by Properietor-ship or partnership firm where Government can’t reach mostly & exploitation of workers happens.
The Direct tax and indirect tax These are two types of tax, in which indirect tax is being increased gradually by reducing direct tax so that money laundering is prevented. But the second result of this is being seen that the purchasing power of the people has not increased, but inflation is increasing and laws like FEMA will have to be further reformed to be effective. Criminals and law breakers are always two steps ahead of those who protect the law because they know that the system can be bought and how to get their work done.
Conclusion –
Panama Papers Leak This case brought a political stir all over the world, in which the heads of state of many countries were directly or indirectly involved in it, it was claimed. At that time the Prime Minister of Pakistan Nawaz Sharif had to resign. Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Putin were named in it, which in a way seemed more a political issue.
The original person from whom this news was placed in front of the whole world, who is that person in reality, it has not been known till date. In this a very important issue has come to the fore that the country whose head or other important politician’s name has come in it is a strong opponent of capitalism. So this issue seems more political. It is not that money has not been manipulated, there has been an attempt to whiten black money, but what happened next after this Panama Papers leak, not much information is available further.
In politics, cases go on till many are given and it is shown that some action has been taken to the people by making a commission. But such cases are sometimes seen suddenly, which are used to deal politically. The names of 500 people of India have come in the Panama paper leak cases, out of which many people are so influential that people worship them like God.That’s why common people should think a little carefully while choosing their ideals, because evading tax and using foreign powers for this is a type of treason.