The Panama Papers, one of the biggest ever data leaks, revealed the vast scale of offshore financial networks used by the global elite.On April 3, 2016, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung released more than 11.5 million documents from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. It exposed a network of offshore shell companies linked to the global financial elite, including current and former government leaders.More than 350 journalists from over 80 countries worked in secrecy for more than a year to analyse 2.6 terabytes of leaked data then published their findings.Here’s what we know about the Panama Papers ten years on, and whether the leak led to any changes.What was the Panama Papers scandal about?The 2016 Panama Papers scandal was about the leak of 11.5 million confidential documents including emails, contracts and banking statements from the law firm Mossack Fonseca.The papers revealed a massive global network of offshore shell companies linked to some of the world’s richest people including politicians, business leaders and public figures, spanning countries from the United Kingdom to Russia, Australia to Brazil. They were using companies based in tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas and Panama to move and store wealth away from the scrutiny of tax authorities.About 214,000 …
