Back in April 2016, the Panama Papers were a leak of 11.5 million documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data). The papers detailed financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities.

The documents, some dating back to the 1970s, were created by, and taken from former Panamanian offshore law firm and corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca.

In the last month we now have the Pandora Papers. The largest leak to date, containing 2.94 terabytes of data and coming from a much wider array of offshore providers than previous leaks: 14 in total.  Locations range from Vietnam to Belize and Singapore, and to far-flung archipelagos such as the Bahamas and the Seychelles. 

The reporting again through collaborations and consortia coordinated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) has begun to trawl through millions of documents to reveal offshore deals and assets of more than 100 billionaires, 30 world leaders and 300 public officials.

Why is this interesting to us at the Future Shapers? 

In June of this year, The Future Shapers undertook an investigation into the world of Research and Development tax credit claims in the UK and found anecdotal evidence of some isolated examples of international shenanigans supported by the statements made in the March 2021 R&D Consultation relating to the use of overseas expenditure and companies. You can read all about it here. 

We would like to keep exposing how fraudsters abuse the R&D tax credit system. We also believe that the research is likely to show that other R&D schemes across Europe and the world are also being abused.   In order to do this, we need your help to work with us in searching through the treasure trove of files that the Pandora Papers has provided.

Keep an eye out for more details on the story tomorrow and reach out if this is a topic that interests you and you want to get involved. 

For more information or comments contact us here.