Sign up to save your podcasts
Or
Share The Panama Papers
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Share to email
Share to Facebook
Share to X
Or
The Panama Papers
This week's massive leak of confidential documents from the Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca, has given unprecedented access to the way the rich and powerful have used tax havens to hide their wealth. But within the eleven and a half million documents, there is also evidence of how some of the shell companies set up by the firm, or the individuals that owned them, have been the subject of international sanctions and have been used by rogue states and oppressive regimes including North Korea and Syria.
Simon Cox reveals details from the leaked papers and travels to the British Virgin Islands where a small office run by Mossack Fonseca was used to create more than 100,000 companies. One of them was a front for a North Korean Bank that was later sanctioned by the United States for supporting the regime's illicit nuclear and ballistic missile programme. According to the US, the BVI based front company managed millions of dollars in transactions in support of North Korea.
Other companies set up by on the island were used by a billionaire businessman who is a cousin of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad and who was sanctioned by the US for using "intimidation and his close ties to the Assad regime at the expense of ordinary Syrians."
Mossack Fonseca has said it never knowingly allowed the use of its companies by individuals with any relationship with North Korea or Syria and says it has operated beyond reproach for 40 years and has never been charged with criminal wrong-doing.
Reporter: Simon Cox Producer: James Melley
View all episodes
By BBC World Service
4.3
16071,607 ratings
This week's massive leak of confidential documents from the Panamanian law firm, Mossack Fonseca, has given unprecedented access to the way the rich and powerful have used tax havens to hide their wealth. But within the eleven and a half million documents, there is also evidence of how some of the shell companies set up by the firm, or the individuals that owned them, have been the subject of international sanctions and have been used by rogue states and oppressive regimes including North Korea and Syria.
Simon Cox reveals details from the leaked papers and travels to the British Virgin Islands where a small office run by Mossack Fonseca was used to create more than 100,000 companies. One of them was a front for a North Korean Bank that was later sanctioned by the United States for supporting the regime's illicit nuclear and ballistic missile programme. According to the US, the BVI based front company managed millions of dollars in transactions in support of North Korea.
Other companies set up by on the island were used by a billionaire businessman who is a cousin of Syrian President Bashar Al Assad and who was sanctioned by the US for using "intimidation and his close ties to the Assad regime at the expense of ordinary Syrians."
Mossack Fonseca has said it never knowingly allowed the use of its companies by individuals with any relationship with North Korea or Syria and says it has operated beyond reproach for 40 years and has never been charged with criminal wrong-doing.
Reporter: Simon Cox Producer: James Melley
More shows like The Documentary Podcast
View all
Global News Podcast
7,774 Listeners
From Our Own Correspondent
370 Listeners
Newshour
1,062 Listeners
In Our Time
5,513 Listeners
Witness History
969 Listeners
The History Hour
590 Listeners
6 Minute English
1,865 Listeners
Learning English Conversations
1,074 Listeners
The Interview
355 Listeners
Lives Less Ordinary
592 Listeners
Discovery
970 Listeners
BBC Inside Science
409 Listeners
Science Weekly
415 Listeners
The Inquiry
737 Listeners
The Audio Long Read
837 Listeners
Unexpected Elements
362 Listeners
Today in Focus
1,046 Listeners
You're Dead to Me
3,215 Listeners
The Missing Cryptoqueen
1,073 Listeners
Americast
772 Listeners
The Bomb
1,039 Listeners
The Global Story
371 Listeners