The list of names of offshore account holders disclosed by a group of news organizations around the world originated from a computer hard drive anonymously sent to an Australian journalist, observers say.
According to Offshore Alert, an industry newsletter published in Miami, FL, the confidential information was contained in a 260 gigabyte drive laden with 2.5-million files detailing everything from water cooler gossip of employees at an offshore trust, to instructions on how to contact account holders, to individual names of account holders themselves.
Foreign bank accounts ? they?re not just for the furtive
Banking abroad is as ordinary as a winter home in Florida or a business office in London.
Most of the accounts are for convenience, such as paying utility bills for a condo beneath the palms and getting access to an ATM without paying heavy fees when drawing foreign U.S. currency.
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The information was obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a non-profit group based in Washington, D.C. that describes itself on its website as a ?network of 160 reporters in more than 60 countries who collaborate? on in-depth stories.
Launched in 1997, the ICIJ was created by the Centre for Public integrity, another Washington-based group focusing on corruption and abuse of power.
According to the CBC, which along with The Guardian and dozens of other international media groups working with the ICIJ on the story, the drive contains the names of 450 Canadian offshore bank customers.
Calls to the ICIJ were not returned.
?I?ve been told that the CBC will release a few names at a time,? said Dennis Howlett, executive director of Canadians for Tax Fairness. Mr. Howlett, whose organization is focused around tax avoidance issues, said he has been in contact with the ICIJ and received ?early warning? of the strategy though he didn?t have the actual list.
?One of the reasons people open up tax haven accounts is to hide assets from their spouses,? he said, adding that even though reports say there are 450 Canadian names, he?s seen 500 names. The discrepancy has to do with the fact that ?there are databases within databases and links, and some that are not determined where the address is that links to those names. So [investigators] haven?t actually got to the whole bottom of it yet.?
The story went public on Wednesday after the ICIJ put out a press release announcing a few tantalizing pieces information from its bid to ?lift the curtain on the offshore system and provide a transparent look into the secret world of tax havens and the individuals and companies that use and benefit from them.?
Calling it ?likely the largest journalism collaboration in history,? the group said it will reveal the ?secrets of more than 120,000 offshore companies and trusts and nearly 130,000 individuals and agents, exposing hidden dealings of politicians, con artists, and the mega-rich in more than 170 countries.?
So far, however, just one Canadian account holder has been named: Tony Merchant, a prominent class action lawyer in Regina, who allegedly put $1.7-million in a trust domiciled in the Cook Islands back in 1998.
While Canadians are required to report income, it is not illegal to open an account at an offshore bank.
Mr. Merchant did not return a request for comment from the Financial Post.
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