Madrid, October 3.- The Pandora Papers is the latest major leak of classified or secret documents, totaling more than 11.9 million files and which expose the common and illegal, if not downright criminal, practices of part of the global elite . Latin America occupies a prominent place, with up to 14 heads and former heads of state involved in the use of tax havens and offshore companies for tax evasion, money laundering of illicit origins and the concealment of opaque fortunes, among whom are three active presidents, Chile's Sebastián Piñera, Ecuador's Guillermo Lasso and Dominican Luis Abinader, in addition to former Colombian presidents César Gaviria and Andrés Pastrana.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) obtained, analyzed, and processed nearly 12 million secret files from up to 14 corporate offices engaged in offshore financial triangulation for large fortunes . Among the media outlets that participated in the investigation were Britain's The Guardian and the BBC, the US-based The Washington Post, and Spain's El País.
Research conclusions
One of the major findings of the investigation is the use by Latin American elites, including current and retired politicians, major business leaders, and even celebrity figures such as Colombian singer Shakira, of a network of shell companies, proxy corporations, and opaque business records to transfer their fortunes through tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands and Panama .
The analysis of the data, conducted by 600 journalists, estimates that in Latin America alone, up to "$40 billion (800 billion pesos) were diverted from public funds to tax havens." Most of the Latin American politicians involved in the investigation are "conservative," according to the investigation itself. In addition to the three current presidents, the investigation estimates eight other former presidents are involved: Colombians César Gaviria and Andrés Pastrana; Peruvians Pedro Pablo Kuczyinski; Hondurans Porfirio Lobo; Paraguayan Horacio Cartes; and Panamanians Juan Carlos Varela, Ricardo Martinelli, and Ernesto Pérez Balladares.
