800 Australians identified in Panama Papers leak

Edited by Nelly. T

The unprecedented leak of more than 11 million documents from Panamanian Law Firm Mossack Fonseca has resulted in the investigation of 800 Australian residents by the Australian Tax Office (ATO).

The residents were among those named in a massive leak of tax and financial records known as the Panama Papers. The information was obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and shared with media organizations around the world including the ABC’s Four Corners program.

The data holds personal details including copies of the passports of hundreds of Australians, which have been identified by the ABC alongside more than 1,000 Australian links.

Michael Cranston said in a statement that the information included “some taxpayers who we have previously investigated, as well as a small number who disclosed their arrangements with us.”

He continued to say that action was being taken against a number of taxpayers, including high wealth individuals who had not been identified but were included in the data.

120 of the 800 Australian citizens were linked to an associate offshore service provider located in Hong Kong, the ATO said.

An ABC analysis has found 418 Australian individual passports in the documents linked to hundreds of companies through dozens of offshore service providers.