The exhaustive list of foreign leaders and famous people exposed in a massive leak of confidential documents held by a Panamanian law firm illuminates a sprawling network of offshore investment accounts often used to make secretive investments and pad luxury lifestyles.
Expensive yachts, luxury homes in London, ownership of a candy company, investments in construction companies are just a sampling of the benefits reaped from these complex financial dealings, many of which may be entirely legal. They reveal the inner workings of the financial lives of those with wealth and power across the globe.
The swath of 11.5 million records — already known as the Panama Papers — made its way into the hands of the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and then the U.S.-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, part of the Center for Public Integrity.
Together, the news organizations coordinated a massive onslaught of investigative reports on the revelations found in the documents.
The list of people tied to offshore activities includes about 140 politicians from more than 50 countries, including 12 current or former heads of state, with links to Panama law firm Mossack Fonesca.
“We have not once in nearly 40 years of operation been charged with criminal wrongdoing,” the law firm’s spokesman, Carlos Sousa, told McClatchy DC. “We’re proud of the work we do, notwithstanding recent and willful attempts by some to mischaracterize it.”
Mossack Fonseca director Ramon Fonseca told Reuters that his firm was the victim of targeted hacking that exposed the documents. He said the “vast majority” of the offshore companies set up by his firm were for “legitimate purposes.”
List of people named in the Panama Papers
This is a partial list of individuals named in the Panama Papers as shareholders, directors and beneficiaries of offshore companies. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) says it will release the full list of companies and people in the Panama Paper files in early May.
ICIJ published the following disclaimer with regard to the data provided: “There are legitimate uses for offshore companies, foundations and trusts. We do not intend to suggest or imply that any persons, companies or other entities included in the ICIJ Power Players interactive application have broken the law or otherwise acted improperly.
Government officials
Current or former heads of state or government of their country as defined by their political position at the time of announcement, not whether the documents in the Papers relating to them coincided with their period of office.
Saudi Arabian King Salman
United Arab Emirates President Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan
Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko
Mauricio Macri, President of Argentina
Salman, King of Saudi Arabia
Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates and Emir of Abu Dhabi- Petro Poroshenko, President of Ukraine
- Former heads of state
Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, former Emir of Qatar- Ahmed al-Mirghani, former President of Sudan
- Pavlo Lazarenko, former Prime Minister of Ukraine
- Ion Sturza, former Prime Minister of Moldova
Heads of government
Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, Prime Minister of Iceland (resigned April 5, 2016)
- Former heads of government
- Bidzina Ivanishvili, former Prime Minister of Georgia
- Ayad Allawi, former Acting Prime Minister of Iraq
- Ali Abu al-Ragheb, former Prime Minister of Jordan
- Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber Al Thani, former Prime Minister of Qatar
Other government officials
- Abdeslam Bouchouareb, Minister of Industry and Mines
- José Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos, Minister of Petroleum
- Néstor Grindetti, Mayor of Lanús
- Ian Kirby, President of the Botswana Court of Appeal and former Attorney General
- Joaquim Barbosa, former President of the Supreme Federal Court
- Eduardo Cunha, President of the Chamber of Deputies
- Edison Lobão, Member of the Senate and former Minister of Mines and Energy
- João Lyra, Member of the Chamber of Deputies
- Ang Vong Vathana, Minister of Justice
- Alfredo Ovalle Rodríguez, intelligence agency associate
- Jaynet Kabila, Member of the National Assembly
- Bruno Itoua, Minister of Scientific Research and Technical Innovation and former Chairman of the SNPC
- Galo Chiriboga, current Attorney General
- Pedro Delgado, cousin of President of Ecuador Rafael Correa, and former Governor of the Central Bank
- Patrick Balkany, Member of the National Assembly and Mayor of Levallois-Perret
- Jérôme Cahuzac, former Minister of the Budget
- Jean-Marie Le Pen, former president of the National Front and father of current party leader Marine Le Pen
- Stavros Papastavrou, advisor of former Prime Ministers Kostas Karamanlis and Antonis Samaras
- Zsolt Horváth, former Member of the National Assembly
- Bjarni Benediktsson, Minister of Finance
- Júlíus Vífill Ingvarsson, Member of Reykjavík City Council (resigned April 5, 2016)
- Ólöf Nordal, Minister of the Interior
- Anurag Kejriwal, former President of the Lok Satta Party Delhi Branch
- Konrad Mizzi, Minister of Energy and Health
- James Ibori, former Governor of Delta State
- Kim Chol Sam
- Mohammad Mustafa, former Minister of National Economy
- Riccardo Francolini, former chairman of the state-owned Savings Bank
- César Almeyda, Director of the National Intelligence Service
- Paweł Piskorski, former Mayor of Warsaw
- Emmanuel Ndahiro, brigadier general and former chief of the intelligence agency
- Muhammad bin Nayef, Crown Prince and Minister of the Interior of Saudi Arabia
- Michael Ashcroft, retired member of the House of Lords
- Michael Mates, former Conservative MP[18]
- Pamela Sharples, Member of the House of Lords
- Victor Cruz Weffer, former commander-in-chief of the army
- Jesús Villanueva, former Director of PDVSA
- Atan Shansonga, former Ambassador to the United States
Relatives and associates of government officials
- Daniel Muñoz, aide to former presidents Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Néstor Kirchner
- Mehriban Aliyeva, Leyla Aliyeva, Arzu Aliyeva, Heydar Aliyev and Sevil Aliyeva, family of President Ilham Aliyev
- Idalécio de Castro Rodrigues de Oliveira, potential briber of the Brazilian President of the Chamber of Deputies Eduardo Cunha and a Portuguese entrepeneur
- Anthony Merchant, husband of Senator Pana Merchant.
- Patrick Henri Devillers, French business associate of Gu Kailai, wife of former Minister of Commerce and Member of the Politburo Bo Xilai, and convicted murderer
- Deng Jiagui, brother-in-law of President Xi Jinping
- Jasmine Li, granddaughter of former Member of the Politburo Jia Qinglin
- Li Xiaolin, daughter of former Premier Li Peng
- Javier Molina Bonilla, former advisor to Director of the National Intelligence Secretariat Rommy Vallejo
- Alaa Mubarak, son of former President Hosni Mubarak
- Frédéric Chatillon, business associate of Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Front
- Arnaud Claude, former law partner of former President Nicolas Sarkozy
- Nicolas Crochet, accounting associate of Marine Le Pen, leader of the National Front
- John Addo Kufuor, son of former President John Kufuor
- Mamadie Touré, widow of former President Lansana Conté
- César Rosenthal, son of former Vice President Jaime Rosenthal
- Frank Flannery, political consultant and Fine Gael‘s former Director of Organisations and Strategy
- Giuseppe Donaldo Nicosia, convicted of bribery alongside former Senator Marcello Dell’Utri
- Jean-Claude N’Da Ametchi, associate of former President Laurent Gbagbo
- Nurali Aliyev, grandson of President Nursultan Nazarbayev
- Mohd Nazifuddin Najib, son of Prime Minister Najib Razak and his cousin Shai
- Juan Armando Hinojosa, “favourite contractor” of President Enrique Peña Nieto
- Mounir Majidi, personal secretary of King Mohammed VI
- Maryam Nawaz, Hasan Nawaz Sharif and Hussain Nawaz Sharif, children of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif
- Sergei Roldugin, Arkady Rotenberg and Boris Rotenberg, friends of President Vladimir Putin
- Mamadou Pouye, friend of Karim Wade, himself the son of former President Abdoulaye Wade
- Khulubuse Zuma, nephew of President Jacob Zuma
- Ro Jae-Hun, son of former President Roh Tae-woo
- Pilar de Borbón, sister of former King Juan Carlos I
- Micaela Domecq Solís-Beaumont, wife of Miguel Arias Cañete, European Commissioner for Climate Action and Energy and former Spanish Minister of Agriculture, Food and Environment
- Oleguer Pujol, son of Jordi Pujol i Soley, former President of Catalonia.
- Rami and Hafez Makhlouf, cousins of President Bashar al-Assad
- Ian Cameron, father of Prime Minister David Cameron
- Kojo Annan, son of former Secretary-General Kofi Annan
Sports personalities
Association football
- Persons associated with the world governing body FIFA
- Juan Pedro Damiani, Uruguayan member of the FIFA Ethics Committee
- Eugenio Figueredo, Uruguayan American former president of CONMEBOL and vice president and member of the ethics committee of FIFA
- Gianni Infantino, Swiss-Italian president of FIFA
- Hugo and Mariano Jinkis, Argentine businessmen also implicated in the 2015 FIFA corruption case
- Michel Platini, French former president of UEFA
- Jérôme Valcke, French former secretary general of FIFA
- Football players
- Mattias Asper, Valeri Karpin, Nihat Kahveci, Tayfun Korkut, Darko Kovačević, Gabriel Schürrer and Sander Westerveld had accounts created by Real Sociedad and its president(s) principally Iñaki Otegui, under the leadership of José Luis Astiazarán, Miguel Fuentes, María de la Peña, Juan Larzábal and Iñaki Badiola
- Gabriel Heinze, Argentine former footballer, account (with his mother) during Manchester United years
- Lionel Messi, footballer for Barcelona and the Argentine national team
- Brian Steen Nielsen, Danish former footballer and sports director of Aarhus Gymnastikforening
- Marc Rieper, Danish retired footballer
- Clarence Seedorf, Dutch former footballer
- Leonardo Ulloa, Argentine footballer
- Iván Zamorano, Chilean retired footballer, account during Real Madrid years
Motorsports
- Àlex Crivillé, Spanish former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer
- Nico Rosberg, German Formula 1 driver at Mercedes AMG Petronas
- Jarno Trulli, Italian former Formula 1 driver
Other sports
- Nick Faldo, English professional golfer on the PGA European Tour, now mainly an on-air golf analyst
Entertainment personalities
- Agustín Almodóvar, Spanish film producer and younger brother of filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar
- Pedro Almodóvar, Spanish film director, screenwriter, producer and former actor
- Amitabh Bachchan, Indian actor
- Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Indian actress and former Miss World.
- Jackie Chan, Hong Kong actor
- Franco Dragone, Italian Belgian theatre director, known for his work for Cirque du Soleil
- David Geffen, Hollywood mogul, co-founder of DreamWorks
- Tina Turner, American-born Swiss singer
Business people
- Vinod Adani, Indian businessman, elder brother of Gautam Adani, Adani Group
- Bank Leumi‘s representatives and board members.
- Hollman Carranza, son of Colombian emerald mogul Víctor Carranza
- Rattan Chadha, Indian-born Dutch businessman, founder of Mexx clothing
- Jacob Engel, Israeli businessman active in the African mining industry.
- Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, Italian businessman and politician
- Anthony Gumbiner, British businessman, chairman of Hallman Group
- Solomon Humes, Bahamian bishop of a small denomination
- Soulieman Marouf, British Syrian businessman
- Nakash family members
- Idan Ofer, London-based Israeli business magnate and philanthropist, founder of Tanker Pacific.
- Igor Olenicoff, American billionaire
- Marianna Olszewski, American financial author and life coach.
- K P Singh, Indian businessman
- Frank Timiș, Romanian-born Australian businessman
- Dov Weissglass, Israeli lawyer and business man who has been closely linked with the Middle East peace process, particularly under Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
- Teddy Sagi, a London-based Israeli billionaire businessman founder of Playtech and the majority shareholder of Market Tech Holdings, which owns London’s Camden Market, and of two AIM-listed technology companies.
- Jacob Weinroth, an Israeli attorney, founder partner of Dr. J. Weinroth & Co. Law Office and owner and director of Sapir Holdings.
- Benjamin Wey, Chinese American financier and president of New York Global Group
- Main shareholders of Anheuser-Busch InBev
Organised crime
- Marllory Chacón Rossell, Guatemalan drug trafficker.
- Jorge Milton Cifuentes-Villa, Colombian drug trafficker, head of the Cifuentes-Villa Drug Trafficking Organization and partner of Joaquín “Chapo” Guzmán.
- Rafael Caro Quintero, Mexican drug trafficker and one of the founders of the now-disintegrated Guadalajara Cartel.
