5 big leaks of tax-haven records before the Pandora Papers

The Pandora Papers, a huge cache of data containingsecret details of offshore bank accounts and shell companies, is thought to be the largest ever leak of tax-haven financial information. The files, stemming from 14 offshore-services firms,were leaked to theInternational Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which shared them with its partner media outlets (including CBC/Radio-Canada) and began publishing stories on Oct. 3.

• Huge 'Pandora Papers' leak exposes secret offshore accounts

But the Pandora Papers isn't the first such leak. Confidential lists of offshore account-holders have found their way into the hands of journalists and governments a number of times over the last decade and a half. Here are fiveimportant previous leaks of records from various tax havens:

Paradise Papers - 2017

What:Records from several dozenjurisdictionsheld by the global offshore law firm Appleby, which is headquartered in Bermuda, as well as a Singapore-basedoffshore services provider. The leak also included the corporate registries from 19 countries and territories.

Numberof people in data: More than120,000.

Canadians: 3,000-plus.

Records leaked: 13.4 million.

Who leaked: The records were leaked to the same German journalists who received 2016'sPanama Papers (see below). Their source has not been identified.

Read more:

• Notable Canadian people and companies in the Paradise Papers
• Data leak revealssecrets of global elites, from Queen to former PMs
• Trudeau's chief fundraiser linked to Cayman Islands tax scheme

Panama Papers - 2016

What: Records from 21offshore jurisdictions held by a single Panama-based global law firm,Mossack Fonseca.

Entitiesaffected:214,000 offshore companies, trusts and other entities.

Canadians: 900-plusindividuals, corporations and trusts.

Records leaked: 11.5 million.

Who leaked:Journalists from the German newspaper Sddeutsche Zeitung received the leak from an anonymous source who called themself John Doe. The German reporters shared the records with the ICIJ and its global media partners.

Taxes recouped:The Canada Revenue Agency says it's assessed $29 million in additional taxbut won't say how much of that it has collected.

Read more:

• Big names in thePanama Papers offshore leak
• CRA has found 35 cases of tax dodging in the Panama Papers

Offshore Leaks - 2013

What:Records on 10 different offshore tax havens came mostly from two firms providing offshore services.

Numberof people in data:More than 100,000 people's closely guarded investment information was in the leak.

Canadians:About 450.

Records leaked:2.5 million.

Who leaked:Australian-based Irish journalist Gerard Ryle received 260 gigabytes of files from a source and brought them to the ICIJ. Ryle subsequently became the ICIJ's director.

Read more:

• Senator's husband put $1.7M in offshore tax havens
• Massive data leak exposes offshore financial secrets

HSBC Jersey - 2012

What: Records on British account holders atglobal bank HSBC's branchin the ChannelIsland of Jersey were leaked to U.K. tax authorities

Numberof people in data:At least 4,388 clients, with accountstotalling $1.1 billion.

No. of Canadians: Unknown.

Who leaked: A whistleblower who has not been publicly identified.

Tax recouped: 170 HSBC customers were assessed for the equivalent of $34 million by the U.K.'s tax agency.

HSBC Geneva - 2009

What: Records on clients ofHSBC's private bank in Geneva

Numberof people in data:At least 106,000 account-holders from more than 200 countries, with accountstotalling $255 billion.

Canadians: 1,859 Canadian individuals and companies, with accounts worth $4 billion in total.

Who leaked: HervFalciani, a French-Italian IT systems engineer who worked in computer security at HSBC's private bank, amassed the records in the course of his job. The French government got its hands on the account list in 2009 after seizing Falciani's computer.Portions of the leakwere later obtained by tax authorities around the world and, eventually, shared with journalists.A Swiss courtsentenced Falciani in absentia in 2015 to five years in prison for economic espionage, but has been living in Spain since then and has not been extradited.

Tax recouped:The CRAsaid in 2015 that 264 Canadians had come forward to make voluntary declarations of previously undeclared income, paying $28.4 million in tax. Revenu Qubecsaid it recovered $34.4 million from 88 individuals who hadn't declared all their income.

Read more:

• HSBC documents show bank helped hide billions from taxman
• Canadian billionaires who used HSBC's private bank

Read more about the Pandora Papers: