Nine years later, the groundbreaking Panama Papers investigation continues to inspire governments around the world to chase badly needed revenue lost offshore to tax evasion schemes.
In recent years, governments have recouped hundreds of millions of dollars more in back taxes and penalties, records show, as a result of the cross-border journalism collaboration led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, along with 100 media partners from five continents, published in April 2016.
The Panama Papers, a trove of more than 11.5 million confidential documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, were obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared with ICIJ in a landmark project that put tax evasion on the global public agenda. The confidential files exposed an international web of offshore shell companies created for wealthy clients, including star athletes, top business executives and, most consequentially, heads of state.
The official investigations have yielded a variety of outcomes. Last year, Panama’s courts acquitted 28 people, including Mossack Fonseca co-founder Jürgen Mossack, of money laundering over their alleged role in setting up shell companies used in scandals in Brazil and Germany.
ICIJ’s current tally based on information received from various governments — which included updated amounts and, in some cases, lower amounts as authorities corrected their own figures — stands at $1.3 billion. This recovery figure almost certainly understates the investigation’s true financial impact, as many governments declined to share recent information with ICIJ and its media partners. In some cases, tax authorities disclosed only how many taxpayer audits had been conducted and the money audited, but the governments have not been able to track how much money was actually recouped and whether any payments were for back taxes or fines.
Responding to public information requests filed by the Indian Express, Indian authorities disclosed they had collected more than $17.4 million in tax revenue after examining more than $1.6 billion in previously undisclosed assets in connection with the Panama Papers. Further, Indian tax authorities said they filed 46 criminal prosecution complaints and had conducted searches, seizures and surveys as part of 84 Panama Papers-related cases.
Other countries said they had made additional collections since 2021 when ICIJ published a previous tally of taxes recouped as a result of information published in the Panama Papers. In Sweden, the money recovered exceeded $237 million by mid-2024 — up from just $19.3 million a few years prior. New Zealand had recouped just $410,400 in 2021 and now claims more than $8 million.
Belgium saw the amount it recouped more than double in the last four years from $18.5 million to nearly $42.2 million, while the Netherlands posted an increase of $16.4 million to about $30.6 million. France had added more than $66 million to its total by the end of 2022, which then sat at over $208 million, and Spain has recouped $175.3 million overall.
In some countries, authorities stopped updating such figures or declined to provide them to ICIJ or its media partners. U.S. authorities never shared information.
Lawyer and one of the main defendants in the Panama Paper case, Jürgen Mossack, speaks to reporters upon his arrival at the court of justice in Panama City on April 8, 2024. Image: Martin Bernetti/AFP
Lack of money identification
While several countries set up task forces or commissions in the wake of the Panama Papers, tallying the money recouped can be difficult. Countries’ internal reporting systems don’t always identify specific journalistic investigations as the source for the settlements or fines.
Israel’s Internal Revenue Service reported that “dozens of tax assessments were issued in amounts between hundred thousand and millions of NIS [Israeli shekels] per assessment,” but those cases “were not ‘painted’” to specific investigations, a spokesperson told Shomrim.
In Finland, authorities told ICIJ media partner Yle that a “few million euros” were recovered following ICIJ’s investigations but didn’t provide specific amounts. Last August, Finland’s Nordea Bank agreed to pay $35 million to New York State authorities as part of a money laundering case partly built on Panama Papers findings, according to the New York State Department of Financial Services. Panama Papers reporting revealed the bank had helped hundreds of customers create offshore companies in tax havens.
In El Salvador, the Attorney General’s Office responded that a record of money the country had gathered as part of criminal complaints related to ICIJ investigations “is not within the scope of competence” of the office. The National Tax Agency of South Korea gave a similar answer to ICIJ partner Newstapa: it does not have any numbers or documents that account for the annual amount of tax collected as a result of journalistic investigations.
Canada provided information on how much money authorities expect to be collected from Panama Papers tax audits (nearly $92 million) — a third of which belongs to the province of Quebec. In total, Quebec tax authorities told La Presse they expected to recover about $42.5 million thanks to the Panama Papers, Paradise Papers and Pandora Papers; they have collected nearly $34.5 million so far.
Other countries do label money recovered as a result of journalistic investigations but don’t differentiate among projects. Italy has recovered $66.4 million tied to ICIJ projects, authorities told L’Espresso. And Ireland collected more than $2.4 million as a result of both the Panama Papers and Paradise Papers.
London Panama Papers protest
Tens of thousands turned out to protest in London following the Panama Papers. Image: Kristian Buus/In Pictures via Getty Images Images
Money recovered from other projects
The Panama Papers and the publication of once-secret corporate ownership information in the Offshore Leaks Database rocked governments and tax systems worldwide. The newly available data led some administrations to open money laundering probes. Sweden investigated around 400 individuals and companies linked to the investigation. Australia opened 540 audits and reviews, authorities told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, while in Canada, over 900 taxpayers were associated with the Panama Papers.
Tax authorities told ICIJ’s media partners in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Australia, Canada, Chile and Spain they had recouped at least $76.4 million from taxpayers following the publication of the Paradise Papers in 2017 and Pandora Papers in 2021. Several countries told ICIJ partners that cases are ongoing, so this amount may increase as a result of administrative and judicial processes.
Two-thirds of the $76.4 million recouped comes from Spain, where more than $50 million were recovered after authorities in the country investigated 38 taxpayers linked to both ICIJ investigations, El País learned. France has recouped $16.3 million from Paradise Papers, according to Le Monde, while Belgium has collected more than $6.2 million from the Pandora Papers, although the country expects to recover more than $8 million, according to figures collected by Knack.
Mossack Fonseca’s Panama headquarters was raided by police in 2016, following ICIJ’s Panama Papers investigation. The firm has since ceased operating. Image: Ed Grimaldo/AFP/Getty Images
In Chile, ICIJ partners CIPER and LaBot calculated that the Chilean tax authorities are expecting to recoup about $1.5 billion in back taxes and fines based on investigation of cases tied to past ICIJ investigations. CIPER and LaBot said the outsized figure likely corresponded to a single ongoing case linked to a 2022 claim against Swiss mining giant Glencore, which an audit determined owed a large sum of unpaid taxes. Glencore has challenged the amount claimed by the Chilean tax authorities (SII) in court.
In Ecuador, authorities expect to collect nearly $172 million as part of ongoing cases linked to Panama Papers and Paradise Papers. ICIJ didn’t include this amount in the overall tally as it represents only an estimate of what might be collected in the future.
France, Germany, Belgium, Malta, Lithuania and Mexico reported collections resulting from other ICIJ investigations. By the end of 2022, French tax authorities had recouped nearly $260 million from the ICIJ-led Swiss Leaks project based on documents from HSBC, along with earlier reporting on the bank’s files published by Le Monde. Belgium has recovered more than $171 million from Swiss Leaks so far, although they expect to recoup $526 million, authorities told Knack.
In Mexico, ICIJ’s 2016 Bahamas Leaks project generated more ($30.3 million) for tax authorities than even the Panama Papers ($25.1 million). In total, Mexican authorities levied 484 separate fines linked to both ICIJ investigations, ICIJ partner Proceso was told.
More recently, ICIJ’s Lithuanian media partner Siena reported that the Baltic country has recouped nearly $100,000 from companies controlled by former Vilnius council member Valerijus Stankevičius. The entities appeared in ICIJ’s Cyprus Confidential, a 2023 investigation into the role Cyprus played in helping Russian and other oligarchs hide assets worth billions of dollars from the threat of sanctions.
Better understanding and knowledge
The Panama Papers exposed a range of actors linked to the offshore secrecy industry: lawyers and wealth managers, accountants, banks, and tax evaders themselves. The investigation was also credited with helping police, prosecutors and tax authorities better understand and track the mechanisms used by corrupt public officials and financial criminals to hide dirty money.
In a statement to ICIJ partner Paper Trail Media, the Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany said that ICIJ’s investigations contributed “significantly” in prompting authorities — and the public at large — to take a deeper interest in “offshore companies and their connections to Germany.” “Many of the research findings were the starting point for a more detailed evaluation by the authorities” and subsequent investigations, the statement said.
The groundbreaking investigation and subsequent probes contributed to stronger protections against money laundering in Austria, according to ICIJ partner profil. The Mossack Fonseca documents were followed by investigations by Austria’s Financial Market Authority that led to a $2.2 million fine against Raiffeisen Bank International. The FMA accused the bank of violating money laundering prevention rules in dealings with several high-risk customers. RBI has always denied the allegations. The figure is not included in ICIJ’s $1.3 billion tally as it does not directly stem from information in the leaks. RBI has appealed the fine. A final court decision is pending.
Over several months ICIJ collected and analyzed information from tax and judicial authorities to calculate the impact of past investigations, including the Panama Papers. ICIJ and its media partners in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, South America, Australia and New Zealand sent dozens of FOIAs to authorities. The final tally of more than $1.3 billion recovered by governments as a direct result of the Panama Papers includes both tax revenue and fines in cases where the amounts provided were not clearly separated.
Some countries have consistently tracked the money recovered as well as the number of cases opened and investigated. Others could not provide detailed information, either because tax authorities no longer tracked cases, the information was no longer available due to technology changes, or the money owed had been mixed with the money already recouped. In the latter case, ICIJ opted to keep the recouped amounts from the Panama Papers separate from those linked to the Paradise and Pandora Papers.
The final tally represents the minimum amount as authorities sometimes only provided estimate ranges. When in doubt, ICIJ included the lower amount.
Governments must overcome significant regulatory and legal hurdles to recover taxes at scale. The Canada Revenue Agency, for instance, told ICIJ it conducts lengthy and complex audits, “as many taxpayers have used various tactics to delay or refuse to provide requested information, forcing the Agency to use the tools at its disposal to obtain them.” Once administrative audits have finished, taxpayers may turn to the courts to challenge the tax authorities’ actions, further delaying the recovery process.
On the other hand, New Zealand authorities told the New Zealand Herald that ICIJ’s investigations led to improved information-sharing agreements between agencies on foreign trust disclosures. The Panama Papers investigation exposed how trusts established overseas that have trustees resident in New Zealand had created an additional layer of opacity in offshore structures. After new disclosure requirements took effect in 2016, “the number of foreign trusts decreased by 75%,” the Financial Action Task Force wrote in a 2021 report, “from nearly 12,000 foreign trusts to just under 3,000 in 2020.”
“We have learned a lot from the Panama leak and we use that knowledge in our work with new leaks,” a program manager at the Swedish Tax Agency told SVT. “We have gained better insight into international tax evasion and the central role of different types of enablers.”
“The leaks have changed the public conversation about tax havens and the public has a better understanding of all the problems offshore jurisdictions are causing the societies,” an official with the Finnish Tax Administration added.
Contributors: Scilla Alecci, Hamish Boland-Rudder, Jelena Cosic, Isabella Cota, Karrie Kehoe, David Kenner, Soline Ledésert, Micah Reddy, Joanna Robin (ICIJ), Jimmy Alvarado, Alberto Arellano, Sven Bergman, Paolo Biondani, Uri Blau, Luc Caregari, Joaquin Castellon, Kristof Clerix, James Cummings, Gaby de Groot, Abdelhak El Idrissi, Daniele Grasso, Jyri Hänninen, Hugo Joncas, Jiyoon Kim, Stefan Melichar, Paul Mena, Hala Nasreddine, Matt Nipert, Frederik Obermaier, Ritu Sarin, Francisca Skoknic, Sophia Stahl, Mathieu Tourlière, Ola Westerberg, Shyamlal Yadav.