Pandora Papers: Nigerian Politicians, Business Moguls Indicted In Extraordinary Leak

More Nigerian politicians, business moguls, past and present public office holders will be identified in the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) “Pandora Papers” major international research into the financial holdings of high-profile individuals around the world.

The exposé was unveiled on Sunday and some of the names already reported include former Anambra governor, Peter Obi amongst prominent figures around the world.

Pandora Papers is facilitated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which obtained a trove of 11.9 million confidential files. The reporting, which is still ongoing involves more than 600 journalists from 150 news organizations around the world.

Selected journalists, media organizations spent two years studying and sorting files, contextualizing information, tracking down sources, and analyzing public records and other documents.

The collaboration has so far revealed the financial secrets of not less than 35 current and former world leaders, more than 330 public officials in more than 91 countries and territories.

The leaked files were retrieved from 14 offshore services firms around the world that set up shell companies and other offshore entities for clients, many of them influential politicians, businesspersons, and criminals, seeking to conceal their financial dealings.

According to Premium Times,  some of the most influential Nigerians, a former Chief Justice of Nigeria, current and former state governors, past and present lawmakers, businesspeople, a popular pastor, and many others who set up shell companies, and sometimes warehouse huge financial assets in notorious secrecy jurisdictions will in coming days be exposed.

Furthermore, ICIJ said, “The Pandora Papers investigation provides an unequaled perspective on how money and power operate in the 21st century — and how the rule of law has been bent and broken around the world by a system of financial secrecy enabled by the U.S. and other wealthy nations.”

“In the popular imagination, the offshore system is often seen as a far-flung scattering of palm-shaded islands. The Pandora Papers show that the offshore money machine operates in every corner of the world, including financial capitals of the richest and most powerful economies,”.

The Pandora Papers investigation will reveal detailed secret owners of offshore companies, anonymous bank accounts, private jets, yachts, mansions, and artworks by Picasso, Banksy, and other masters globally.