Panama Papers Leak Financial Information for Offshore Accounts
BECKY ANDERSON, HOST: Offshore accounts, dodgy deals and allegations of corruption -- coming up, what's in so-called Panama Papers, who is involved and the reaction from around the globe. Also ahead on this show...</s>ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's in these waters that thousands of migrants have risked their lives. Men, women and children have died trying to reach that coastline, that's Greece.</s>ANDRESON: And now once they reach Greece, many migrants are being sent back to Turkey. We'll have reports from both sides of the perilous crossing. And violence in the south Caucus amid the tensions -- the highest tensions in years. I'm joined this hour by the foreign minister of Azerbaijan and the foreign minister of the self-declared republic of Nagorno-Karabakh.</s>ANNOUNCER: Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is Connect the World with Becky Anderson. And a very good evening from the UAE. It is 7:00, or just after here, a very busy hour for you. Ridiculous, outrageous, a series of lies: just some of the reaction today to reports that appear to expose secretive dealings of the world's rich and powerful. Now, those reports are based on a massive leak of documents from Mossak Fonseca, a law firm in Panama. World leaders, celebrities and sports stars are among those accused of using secret offshore companies and accounts to hide billions of dollars. The shadowy dealings themselves not necessarily illegal, but several countries are already pledging to investigate possible tax evasion. I've got two reporters on the story for you tonight. Nina Dos Santos is live in London and Matthew Chance in Moscow where the Kremlin says Vladimir Putin is the, quote, main target of the leaks even though he wasn't mentioned by name. Nina, let me start with you. More than 11 million pages leaked alleging to show how one firm helped rich and powerful clients launder money, evade tax and in some cases avoid sanctions. Explain what we got here and the significance of what's alleged to have happened.</s>NINA DOS SANTOS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORREPSONDENT: Well, Becky, just to put it into perspective, this is multiple times the amount of information that was leaked during the course of the WikiLeaks leaks a number of years ago. So, it is the biggest -- quite simply, the biggest offshore tax leak that we have seen so far. That is why it's significant, as you said. More than 11 million documents from the law firm Mossack Fonseca. We don't know at this point whether it was an employee, disgruntled employee, whoever leaked them, we have no idea. They were leaked to a German newspaper, which then decided to work with a number of other publications around the world these documents for more than a year. And those 11 million documents actually reveal a whole bunch of important information on the directors of 214,000 companies around the world. Among the directors alleged on the records of some of those companies listed in tax havens like Panama, the British Virgin Islands and the Seychelles, were set to be 12 current and former leaders of countries and 128 other people with political links, or active politicians at the moment. And that doesn't count the sports stars and celebrities. Now, I want to point out what Mossack Fonseca has been saying over the last 24 hours in its defense. It says, quote, "we are a company who has almost 40 years experience and we have never formally been accused of anything." They also go on to say say, and I'm paraphrasing here, we are not responsible for how our clients manage the structures that we have set up for them however we may want them to manage those particular structures. And that is what you hear repeatedly when you speak to tax advisers. Remember that it isn't illegal to set offshore companies, it is then what you do with those companies afterwards if you don't declare them in your own tax jurisdiction. And that is what Mossack Fonseca is saying in their defense. I also want to bring you a comment that comes from Mauricio Macri who has also emerged in these files here. This is the newly elected president of Argentina. He, according to these allegations, was reportedly a director of the company for about ten years in the Bahamas, which wasn't declared. He says, Mr. Mauricio Macri -- this is according to a spokesman for the Argentine governmen -- Macri has never had or has a stake in the capital of the company in question, this one in the Bahamas. Mr. Macri was appointed occasionally as a director without holding any shares. And what I can bet you, Becky, is that these leaks will continue to come fast and thick over the last few days. We have had some names that have come to the fore, but of course you can imagine with 11 million documents to pour through, there's going to be more.</s>ANDERSON: Nina is in London for you. Thank you. Matthew in Moscow. It is alleged, Matthew, that close aides of President Putin were involved in what was a $2 billion money trail with offshore firms and banks. What's been the response in Russia?</s>MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You're right. There's been all sorts of dodgy deals, potentially, that have been revealed in this mammoth leak from this law firm, this accountancy practice, in Panama. The reaction of the Kremlin has been pretty consistent in the sense that they've denied that the Russian president, for instance, has -- who was not identified directly and named in any of the leaked documents as far as we're aware. But to point out that they don't believe he's committed any wrongdoing. In fact, the Kremlin preempted the release of these reports just last week saying that the western media was poised to launch an information attack on Russia. Today, the Kremlin updated that reaction, if you like, and said, you know look, this is an attempt to discredit Vladimir Putin was the target of these reports. It's an attempt to discredit the Russian president ahead of parliamentary elections that are scheduled to take place in Russia later on this year. And so the Russians, the Kremlin, have been very clear in their response to this, which is that they are denying that there's been any wrong doing done at the hands of the Russian president despite the fact that many individuals who are closely linked with Vladimir Putin have been named in these leaked reports, and there are, as I say, a number of dodgy deals that have been identified connected with them.</s>ANDERSON: Matthew Chance in Moscow, Nina in London for you and more on this as we move through the hour To some other stories now on our radar today. And in Iraq, at least 11 people were killed in a wave of suicide bombings across the country. That includes a bombing at a check point in the capital Baghdad. ISIS has claimed responsibility. U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan is in Israel right now as part of a congressional delegation trip there. And he's talking politics. The Times of Israel newspaper reports that he's making it clear again that he does not want the Republican Party to name him its nominee for president if the other candidates fail to win enough delegates to clinch the spot. U.S. presidential hopefuls are campaigning now in Wisconsin ahead of Tuesday's primary after a stormy week of controversy. Republican front runner Donald Trump is trailing Ted Cruz in the polls there. On the Democratic side, the latest poll numbers show Bernie Sanders just edging ahead of front runner Hillary Clinton. Well, a controversial new plan to tackle the migration crisis in Europe who is now taking effect with the first wave of migrants being deported from Greece now arriving in Turkey. They are being loaded into boats in Greece under a deal reached between Turkey and the EU. It calls for one Syrian refugee to be resettled in Europe for everyone that sent back to Turkey, which in turn will receive billions of dollars to help shoulder migrant burden there. Well, the plan is a major setback for many of the already desperate migrants and it is widely condemned by human rights groups. Let's kick off this part of the show with Erin McLaughlin who has more from just off the Greek island of Lesbos.</s>ERIN MCLAUGHLIN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It`s in these waters that thousands of migrants have risked their lives, men, women and children had died trying to reach that coastline. That`s Greece. To them, it represents the beginning of a European dream. But for over 200 migrants today, predominantly from Afghanistan and Pakistan, that reality is in the other direction, and that is Turkey. They were deported there today and authorities trying to send a message that a regular migrants are no longer welcome on these shores. They`re no longer welcome in the European Union. And if they risk their lives and spend their money to get here, they will simply be sent back. But the real question is, are potential migrants listening, especially when you consider what you see just over the coastline, those are live jackets, from newly arrived migrants. And the Greek police released numbers overnight, over 300 migrants arrived just in the last 24 hours, compare that to just 200 deported. More are arriving still than are being deported and that is a big problem because the success of the deal between the European Union and Turkey depends on stemming the tide of migrants into Greece. Erin McLaughlin, CNN, Lesbos, Greece.</s>ANDERSON: Well, migrants are arriving now in Turkey. CNN's Phil Black joins us live from the coast -- the coast in the town of Dikili where there are mostly men, it seems, coming on these boats from Greece. Phil, how many of them have been sent back? And what happens to them now that they've arrived in Turkey?</s>PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Becky, there were three boats carrying 202 people in total. And yes they were mostly men. As Erin touched on, they're mostly from Pakistan, Afghanistan, a list of other countries as well -- Bangladesh, India, Somalia, Congo all got a mention are smaller numbers, two from Syria who, we are told specifically volunteered to make the journey. Now those from Syria can be reasonably sure about their future. They will be allowed to stay in Turkey in the refugee camps that exist here along with the 2.7 million other Syrians that are already allowed to stay here, those that have fled across Turkey's southern border to seek refuge from that conflict. The others, well their future is less clear. They are being sent to detention centers. And from there, their cases are being assessed individually. They could potentially apply for some sort of temporary asylum, but in most of those cases their countries are not strictly -- or would not strictly be considered a war zone. So the degree of protection they would be assessed to require would not be as great. What that means is they could potentially be returned back to their country of origin, that's what Turkish officials tell us, depending upon what Turkey's relationship is with the specific country of origin in question, Becky.</s>ANDERSON: Phil, human rights groups have criticized this deal, concerned that neither Greece nor Turkey is prepared to deal with these deportations. What's the evidence on the ground?</s>BLACK: Well, it's complex and there's a lot of concern in Greece in particular because it's not just all illegal migrants that are coming back, or irregular migrants, they say, but specifically those who either don't apply for asylum to stay in Greece, or those whose application for asylum to stay in Greece was unsuccessful. So the real concern in Greece is does it have the man power, the resources to assess so many applications for refugee status. There are already 50,000 people there. More people are still coming. They are really filling up camps. The conditions are becoming increasingly desperate within those camps. So refugee advocates, human rights activists, they are concerned that that many people simply cannot be given a reasonable, efficient hearing of their particular set of circumstances, which could result in people being kicked out unfairly, they say. Here in Turkey, as I say, there's already 2.7 million Syrians here. This is already an enormous burden for this country, and there are concerns particularly among human rights groups -- we heard from Amnesty over the last week or so -- that Turkey is becoming less tolerant, less understanding towards many of these migrants here despite how desperate their circumstances are. But Turkey says it is doing its best and will continue to maintain its open door policy of refuge for those fleeing the Syrian conflict, Becky.</s>ANDERSON: It's 6:13 in Turkey, 7:13 here in the UAE. Phil, thank you for that. For a list of ways to help the migrants, do visit our impact your world web page. There, you'll find a list of nonprofits vetted by CNN and many other resources that will help you get involved. That's at CNN.com/impact. Right. You're with Connect the World. I'm Becky Anderson. Still to come tonight, an old feud flaring up between Azerbaijan and Armenia. I'm going to speak to Azerbaijan's foreign minister. That up next. And later, armed volunteers protect a church in Pakistan. The fears of an attack intensified after a recent bombing specifically targeted Christians.