Dubbed the Paradise Papers, the newspaper says that the leak of 13.4 million files reveals the global environments in which tax abuses can thrive – and the complex and seemingly artificial ways the wealthiest corporations can legally protect their wealth.
Appleby, which has offices on the Esplanade and in Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, the British Virgin Islands, Guernsey and the Isle of Man, is said to be at the centre of the leak.
It has been reported that six million documents have been leaked from the firm’s database but it is not know at this stage from which jurisdiction.
The material, which was also used in a Panorama programme aired tonight, was obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared today by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in partnership with the Guardian, the BBC and the New York Times.
Last month Appleby released a statement admitting it had been the subject of a ‘data security incident’ in 2016 and that some of the data it holds had been ‘compromised’.
The statement was published after the legal and financial services firm received inquiries from the ICIJ – the body which led the investigation into the Panama Papers data leak last year – and other media organisations.
Full story in tomorrow’s JEP.
