How the secrets of the Pandora Papers were freed Wired: “The Pandora Papers have rocked the world. Since news organisations began publishing their explosive contents on October 3, the giant leak has dominated headlines and posed questions of some of the world’s most powerful people and their financial propriety. Everyone from former UK prime minister Tony Blair to the King of Jordan have been dragged into a murky world of offshore finance, with stunning allegations being uncovered daily. And not for the first time, calls have been made to crack down on offshore financial products and institutions, and to instigate a fairer tax regime. The Pandora paper revelations came from an unfathomably big tranche of documents: 2.94 terabytes of data in all, 11.9 million records and documents dating back to the 1970s. But how do you handle a massive leak of such size securely, when documents come in all sizes and formats, some dating back five decades? The organisation behind the Pandora Papers leak, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), has spent the best part of a year coordinating simultaneous reporting from 150 different media outlets in 117 countries. And it involves a lot of technical infrastructure to bring the stories of financial issues to light. “We had data from 14 different offshore providers,” says Delphine Reuter, a Belgian data journalist and researcher at the ICIJ. Work began on analysing the data in November 2020…”
ATO boss Chris Jordan has kept his lips buttoned despite the Senate ordering him to reveal businesses with a turnover of $10 million that received JobKeeper, ABCreports. Jordan says he has a duty to privacy — but the tax boss can’t just refuse the order, SA independent Rex Patrick explains. It would be like refusing a police direction or court direction. Patrick has referred Jordan to the commissioner for investigation by the Senate privileges committee, news.com.au continues.
If you’re wondering how it’s been done elsewhere — across the ditch, the New Zealand government released a list of employers who received support mid-last year, as 1news reported. There’s even a government online tool allowing the public to peruse the list. Among them: Air New Zealand, Bunnings, Alliance, Kiwirail and, of course, Harvey Norman.