Panama leaks expose widespread tax evasion

(Vatican Radio) A major scandal involving leaked documents of a Panamanian offshore law firm, spanning forty years, has been revealed and the eleven and a half million documents lay bare the business dealings of dozens of current and former World Leaders. 

Listen to James Blears report

The treasure trove of eleven point five million records of offshore holdings,  have been revealed by an anonymous and most likely disgruntled and embittered source.  They cover forty years of the business of offshore Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca. The bulky mass of data was leaked  to a German newspaper, who onpassed it to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism,  which is is based in Washington.  It's  published this investigation into  the offshore financial matters of the rich, the powerful, the political, the famous and  the infamous.  It covers more than 200,000 offshore entitities covering  than 200 countries.  There are allegations of tax dodging and money laundering.

The company has hit back, insisting it's been operating for more than 40 years and has yet to be accused or charged with any wrong doing.    This state of affairs might just alter and change  in the very near future.

The sheer size, scale, scope and enormity of this invesigation is likely to shed light on to,  if not breathe life into,  the obscure world of offshore business and dealings.  Some might find themselves in hot wáter while others could be in very Deep wáter.  What  happens from now on,  will be a sink or swim situation for many who've gone to great lengths to conserve  themselves a bouyant float.