COMMENT | Offshore funds: Shouldn't they be asked to account for it?

COMMENT | Just when we thought that the events of the 1MDB scandals are behind us after out-of-court settlements, criminal cases and civil suits, another bombshell was dropped on Tuesday with the worldwide publication of the Pandora Papers.

The Investigative Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) collated the information and provided access to its partners, including Malaysiakini, which has reported extensively on this issue.

Reports on these documents, both in local and foreign publications and news portals, make good reading. It exposes how funds are laundered and layered in many cases and converted to assets – most of the time in properties.

No one has been spared – from Russian oligarchs to British businesspersons, and from politicians and dictators to unknown personalities whose names could have been used to open and operate these accounts.

Journalists had to go through more than 11.9 million documents and other records from 14 offshore service providers that set up and managed shell companies and trusts in tax havens around the globe.

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation produced a 40-minute programme on its flagship programme Four Corners.

A few of the Malaysians named in the papers have offered explanations...