Panama Papers: 75 World Leaders Including Putin, Xi Jinping Among Those Named For Alleged Tax Evasion

A massive leak of tax documents, dubbed as Panama Papers, has exposed the financial dealings of many world leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, Chinese Premier Xi Jinping, football maestro Lionel Messi, and 72 other former or present heads of state, across the globe.

Vladimir Putin¡¯s name doesn¡¯t feature on the list, but the papers show the two offshore companies used to channel money are owned by Putin¡¯s close aide Sergei Roldugin. A suspected ring of money laundering involves scores of Putin¡¯s associates, and the Guardian claimed that the documents have revealed that Putin spent the money of his friends made in such deals.

Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif¡¯s name has also surfaced on the list, along with several other leaders of the Muslim world, including former president of Egypt, Hosni Mubarak, and his son Alaa Mubarak, and ex-interim PM and former Vice President of Iraq, Ayad Allawi. The names of the President of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko, and PM of Iceland, Sigmundur Davio Gunnlaugsson have also featured on the list.

The families of eight current and former members of China¡¯s mighty politburo have also been found to have hidden wealth offshore. Six members of UK¡¯s House of Lords, three former Conservative MPs, and scores of donors of political parties have been found having offshore assets.

telegraph.co.uk

FIFA, the world football body, which has already been in the news for corruption allegations, has key members of its ethics committee named, who were supposed to spearhead the investigation in cases of corruption against the inside officials of FIFA.

telegraph.co.uk

Syria¡¯s President Bashar-al-Assad and Libya¡¯s former dictator Muammar Gaddafi have also been reported to have connections to offshore companies. Bashar Al-Assad has already been in the news for descending the country into civil war, which has forced the lakhs of Syrians to seek refuge in many European and African countries.

In addition to these, 500 Indians have been named on the list, including Amitabh Bachchan and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, among others