TRUTH IS OUT

Leaders ‘Must Quit’ Over Panama Papers

Governments rocked by tax evasion leak.

Eleven million documents leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca reveal how it has helped its high-power clients move money offshore and dodge taxes. The documents show connections to 72 current or former heads of state, including some dictators who are accused of looting their own countries. The company alleges that it has operated for 40 years without any wrongdoing. Among the linked leaders is Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose associates were suspected in a billion-dollar money-laundering scheme, the families and friends of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, late Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. The documents also reveal Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson’s undisclosed financial interests in the nation’s failed banks as well as millions of dollars in an offshore account; on Monday, Gunnlaugsson faced widespread calls to resign. In Ukraine, MPs called for an investigation into President Petro Poroshenko’s apparent move to shift his confectionary business offshore to dodge taxes during the height of the country’s fight with Russian troops in August 2014.