One year on, Pandora Papers continues to be anti-corruption ‘tour de force'

6th October 2022

This week, we're marking one year since ICIJ launched the Pandora Papers — and taking stock of the global firestorm the landmark investigation created.

Hardly a week has gone by without us having more continued fallout to report on. Since the days immediately after we first published the project, we've seen heads-of-state impeached, voted out, and put under investigation; ambitious new anti-money laundering reforms proposed and winning critical political support; tax probes the world over and more — all driven by the wide-ranging investigative findings of the most expansive leak of tax haven files in history.

Just a few months after the launch of the Pandora Papers, the investigation gained urgent new relevancy with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. As the Western world hurriedly put unprecedented sanctions in place to financially paralyze the oligarchs and businesses that have long backed Vladimir Putin's regime, our exposes uncovered the specific shell companies, offshore accounts and firms that legions of Russian ruling elites use to hide and protect their fortunes from global law enforcement.

And as the largest reporting collaboration the world has ever seen, there's also been a growing recognition of how ICIJ's unique model has been key to driving the success of the investigation — and to keeping the journalists involved safe.

Last month, the U.S. Agency for International Development cited the Pandora Papers in a new guide to fighting kleptocracy, saying that "supporting investigative journalism is often the single best possible investment in the development of a country beset by repressive kleptocracy."

One journalism organization noted that the Pandora Papers pushed the envelope not just in the scale and impact of its investigative findings, but as "a cooperative endeavour considered virtually impossible by conventional journalistic wisdom."

ANNUAL REPORT
Check out highlights from a milestone year and successes of the first five years since ICIJ went independent in the annual report.

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