Pastime for the high and mighty: dodge ball with taxes

The most striking revelation was that 13 foreign business entities, 25 individuals, and 20 corporate addresses emerged in the papers, all of which were closely related to Vietnam.

Paradise Papers was one of the most scandalous tax evasion leaks in history

Specifically, the financial exposé leaked prominent names from Vietnam, such as Don Di Lam (CEO of VinaCapital Group Limited), Dominic Scriven (CEO of Dragon Capital), Louis T. Nguyen (Nguyen The Lu—chair and CEO of Saigon Asset Management Corporation).

Addressing the financial data breach, VinaCapital’s representatives persisted that their CEO being reported in the papers was completely irrelevant of the firm’s business performance. They also reiterated that the investment firm employed legal consultation by several law firms in the same way other investment management firms would, stressing that the firm remains committed to complying with the international legal system.

Likewise, Dragon Capital was adamant that they consistently abide by international, regional, and local laws as well as fulfill their tax filing duties in a timely manner. The alleged tax dodger refused to further comment on the Paradise Papers incident.

Shockingly, the tax haven arrangements camouflaged tax fraud committed by dominant public figures, such as tech innovator Apple, the Queen of the United Kingdom Elizabeth II, Formula One champion Lewis Hamilton, syndics of US President Donald Trump’s close circles like Wilbur Ross (Trump’s commerce secretary), Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Trudeau’s chief fundraiser and senior adviser Stephen Bronfman, Prince Charles (the Prince of Wales and heir apparent to the British throne), according to newswire The Daily Telegraph.

The Paradise Papers divulged over 13 million secret corporate documents related to offshore investment accounts, according to newswire The Sun.

Previously in 2015, another financial dirt exposé, the Panama Papers, was anonymously sent to Suddeutsche Zeitung, a German newspaper. The papers comprised of files, including banking statements, private electronic mails and loan agreements, which were later shared with International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) to superintend the investigation.

Paradise Papers are regarded as one of the world’s most scandalous tax evasion leaks in history. The papers detailed how tax dodgers pulled off financial scams, such as tax avoidance, tax evasion, money laundering, and keeping secret financial spreadsheets.

The data disclosures of the investigation backing up Paradise Papers were conducted by over 380 journalists over a year to rake up a 70-year-long financial database, according to The Guardian.