Ten years since Panama Papers: What did they reveal, did anything change? | Panama Papers News | Al Jazeera

## Summary
Listen Listen (8 mins) Save Click here to share on social media share2 Share facebook twitter whatsapp copylink google Add Al Jazeera on Google info Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers scandal, closed its doors in 2018, two years after the files were leaked [File: Carlos Jasso/Reuters] By Alma Milisic Published On 3 Apr 2026 3 Apr 2026 The Panama Papers, one of the biggest ever data leaks, revealed the vast scale of offshore financial networks used by the global elite. The 2016 Panama Papers scandal was about the leak of 11.5 million confidential documents including emails, contracts and banking statements from the law firm Mossack Fonseca. The papers revealed a massive global network of offshore shell companies linked to some of the world’s richest people including politicians, business leaders and public figures, spanning countries from the United Kingdom to Russia, Australia to Brazil. Hundreds of people, including more than 140 politicians, were identified as directors, shareholders or beneficiaries of offshore shell companies revealed in the Panama Papers.

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Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers scandal, closed its doors in 2018, two years after the files were leaked [File: Carlos Jasso/Reuters]
By
Alma Milisic
Published On 3 Apr 2026
3 Apr 2026
The Panama Papers, one of the biggest ever data leaks, revealed the vast scale of offshore financial networks used by the global elite.
On April 3, 2016, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung
released more than 11.5 million documents
from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca. It exposed a network of offshore shell companies linked to the global financial elite, including current and former government leaders.
More than 350 journalists from over 80 countries worked in secrecy for more than a year to analyse 2.6 terabytes of leaked data then published their findings.
Here’s what we know about the Panama Papers ten years on, and whether the leak led to any changes.
What was the Panama Papers scandal about?
The 2016 Panama Papers scandal was about the leak of 11.5 million confidential documents including emails, contracts and banking statements from the law firm Mossack Fonseca.
The papers revealed a
massive global network
of offshore shell companies linked to some of the world’s richest people including politicians, business leaders and public figures, spanning countries from the United Kingdom to Russia, Australia to Brazil. They were using companies based in tax havens such as the British Virgin Islands, the Bahamas and Panama to move and store wealth away from the scrutiny of tax authorities.
About 214,000 entities were linked to individuals and companies in over 200 countries and territories. The documents covered from the 1970s up to 2016.
Who leaked the Panama Papers?
The Panama Papers were leaked by an anonymous whistleblower using the pseudonym John Doe, who initially shared the documents with Suddeutsche Zeitung, which then collaborated with journalists worldwide on reporting and releasing the findings.
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P Vaidyanathan Iyer, managing editor at The Indian Express and one of the hundreds of journalists who worked on the Panama Papers, said that the process of identifying the information was like “looking for a needle in a haystack”.
“We were continuously, for about six to eight months, just reading data,” he told Al Jazeera.
“My team of three and I had a small cubicle to ourselves in the office, and we were cut off from the rest. Day and night, we were going through data, downloading documents onto our laptops and computers, which were all very secure, with restricted access. It was arduous work,” he added.
Who was exposed?
Hundreds of people, including more than 140 politicians, were identified as directors, shareholders or beneficiaries of offshore shell companies revealed in the Panama Papers. Among them were Mauricio Macri, then president of Argentina, and Petro Poroshenko, who was Ukraine’s fifth president from 2014 to 2019.
Other leaders, including former Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and former Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, were also named – all linked to ownership of shell companies in offshore tax havens.
What are offshore shell companies?
Offshore companies are legal entities incorporated in a jurisdiction outside the owner’s country of residence.
Shell companies, on the other hand, are entities that have “no real substantial business or operations in its place of incorporation or registered office,” Kehinde Olaoye, a professor of commercial law and business law associations at Hamad bin Khalifa University in Qatar, told Al Jazeera.
Shell companies are often used to create legal paperwork to cover for fraudulent or dodgy financial transactions. If they’re based in a country other than the owner’s, they’re offshore shell companies.
Are offshore shell companies illegal?
No. Offshore shell companies are not automatically illegal. The purpose of such companies is to create trusts, which then can be used to protect wealth or create estate planning.
However, “there is always a thin line between legitimate and illegitimate purposes” in using offshore shell companies, Olaoye noted.
“Usually, individuals and companies receive advice from financial advisers and legal advisers on how they can structure their business to take advantage of ‘favourable’ tax benefits,” she said.
Did anyone get in trouble for the Panama Papers?
A month after the Panama Papers were leaked, Iceland’s Gunnlaugsson
resigned
as prime minister following mass protests. According to the leaked documents, Gunnlaugsson and his wife allegedly established a company, Wintris, in the British Virgin Islands with the assistance of the Panamanian law firm. His resignation led to the fall of the Icelandic government at the time.
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In 2017, Pakistan’s Suprem

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## Expert Analysis

### Merits
- However, “there is always a thin line between legitimate and illegitimate purposes” in using offshore shell companies, Olaoye noted. “Usually, individuals and companies receive advice from financial advisers and legal advisers on how they can structure their business to take advantage of ‘favourable’ tax benefits,” she said.
- Mossack Fonseca, which had over 40 offices worldwide, also faced significant operational impacts following the leaks, including staff reductions, and ultimately shut down in 2018.

### Areas for Consideration
- Advertisement In 2017, Pakistan’s Supreme Court also disqualified then prime minister Sharif from office following the leaks, despite an earlier ruling that found insufficient evidence of corruption.
- There’s no one overarching international taxation principle that everyone needs to follow — and often there are overlapping treaties and agreements that allow those with the shrewdest financial advisors to choose, or shop, from among those pacts, based on whatever works best for them. “The main challenge in international tax law is that there is no multilateral tax convention, which creates problems of tax competition and ‘treaty shopping’,” Olaoye said.

### Implications
- Did the Panama Papers lead to changes in the legal system?

### Expert Commentary
This article covers companies, panama, papers topics. Notable strengths include discussion of companies. Areas of concern are also raised. Readability: Flesch-Kincaid grade 0.0. Word count: 1203.