The financial secrets of the rich and the powerful, all around the world, have been partly exposed by the Pandora Papers. Files were leaked to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) which is based in Washington. With the help of hundreds of journalists, technology and time, the organization combed through millions of files, formats and even ink on paper and shared access of the leaked data with select media partners such as The Guardian, BBC Panorama, Le Monde, The Washington Post and more. The leaked data has been called Pandora Papers.

The Pandora Papers have exposed how tax evaders and some money launderers use tax havens to keep their assets secret. These set ups might not be illegal. A few people could have legitimate reasons including security to set up offshore deals but the papers expose the glaring differences between the rich, entitled and powerful and the rest of the world.

Some of the politicians or their families or members of their very close circle who have allegedly used offshore accounts to save taxes and more include Tony Blair former PM of Britain ‘s wife Cherie Blair, and major donors to current PM Boris Johnson’s political party. Persons close to the following: Putin in Russia, the King of Jordan, Azerbaijan President, Czech Republic Prime Minister, Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Kenya’s Prime Minister, Ukraine President and many more have also used offshore accounts.

Some of the countries, islands and states that have been used as tax havens for their secretive laws by the majority of those who have been named in the Pandora Papers are the British Virgin Islands, Panama, South Dakota in the U.S., Seychelles, Hong Kong, Belize and more.

The ICIJ said that the expose was a 2.94 terabyte data trove, with information about the rich and powerful from over 200 countries, including more than 330 politicians and 130 billionaires who have featured on the Forbes list as well as celebrities, fraudsters and drug dealers. Members of royal families and religious groups have also been exposed. They have used offshore havens to buy real estate, yachts, jets and more.

Those who are rich and powerful generally use offshore accounts to avoid taxes and more, by using legal loopholes while the middle classes pay taxes and are often unable to avail legitimate tax benefits as it entails paying for additional services of tax consultants and more.

So, this expose is expected to reverberate among those who have been implicated especially politicians. This has been the largest leak and the huge data amounts of data has been gathered by the ICIJ will be reported through weeks by the major news outlets with whom the data has been shared.