Shakira, a Colombian musician, and Sachin Tendulkar, a former Indian cricketer, are among the affluent individuals mentioned in the Pandora Papers investigation.
Shakira’s lawyer claimed that her offshore accounts had been disclosed and that they provided no tax benefits. Tendulkar’s lawyer stated that the cricketer’s investment is legal and has been reported to the authorities.
The pop music sensation, who was born in Colombia, is already well-known for her tax woes. Despite claiming to be a Bahamas resident, authorities in Spain discovered she was residing in Barcelona from 2011 to 2014 but without paying taxes, and in July, a Spanish magistrate cleared the way for her to face criminal accusations brought against her in 2019.
According to the Pandora Papers, she was forming new offshore businesses in the British Virgin Islands while the inquiry in Spain was ongoing, one of which, Titania Management Inc., had never been publicly exposed before. Among the released documents is a copy of her Spanish driver’s license.
According to an investigation published on Sunday (3rd October) by the ICIJ media consortium, more than a dozen heads of state and government, including Jordan’s King and the Czech prime minister, have concealed millions in offshore tax havens.
The so-called “Pandora Papers” investigation is based on the leak of 11.9 million documents from 14 financial services businesses throughout the world, including 600 journalists from outlets such as The Washington Post, the BBC, and The Guardian.
In the documents studied by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), 35 current and former leaders are named, with claims ranging from corruption to money laundering and global tax avoidance.
