Excerpt
JEFFREY BROWN (Newshour): With Tax Day looming for millions of Americans, a new investigation exposes the global use of offshore bank accounts to hide trillions of dollars and evade laws.
Again to Hari, who has the story.
HARI SREENIVASAN (Newshour): Uncovering the complex workings of offshore tax havens has led to one of the largest cross-border collaborations ever between journalists.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has been combing through more than two million files of financial transaction data for more than a year. It's taken this long because the digital file size is 160 times larger than the State Department cables published by WikiLeaks in 2010.
A team of 86 investigative journalists from 46 countries has collectively examined more than 120,000 offshore accounts belonging to individuals and companies from more than 170 countries. The records show how government officials and individuals in a number of countries use covert accounts and companies to shield their wealth and how some of the top global banks work within these offshore tax havens as well.
The investigation is already leading to a series of reports, including one spotlighting the transactions of a Canadian senator's husband, who has hidden money from their equivalent of the IRS, an Australian tied to arms dealing through shell companies, and a Mongolian lawmaker who may resign over the revelations of his finances overseas.
Gerard Ryle directs the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and joins us to discuss the findings.
Tax Justice Network
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