The highlight for this week has been the leak of confidential documents that have been termed the Panama Papers #PanamaPapers or #PanamaLeaks. A massive investigation led by hundreds of journalists who went through more than 11 million documents from the secret files of Mossack Fonseca revealed some of the world’s biggest names who have set up offshore entities in tax sanctuaries around the world.
Among the prominent figures listed in the documents are Iceland’s Prime Minister- Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson and Ukraine’s President- Petro Poroshenko. British Prime Minister David Cameron, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and Russian President Vladimir Putin are also connected to the leak through associates or family members. Leaders from the MENA region (Middle East and North African) and their families are also included in this list. Some of them include former Qatar Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani, UAE President Khalifa bin Zayed bin Sultan al-Nahyan, Iraq’s former Prime Minister, Ayad Allawi and Former Prime Minister Ali Abu al-Ragheb. The names mentioned in the list have allegedly used secret offshore accounts to stash billions of dollars of cash and manage investments and assets, according to information from the ‘Panama Papers’ leak.
It’s still too early to determine what the consequences will be from the leak, however the biggest immediate reaction was seen in Iceland, where Prime Minister Gunnlaugsson resigned over the leak. The revelation is especially notable given Iceland’s recent history, in which the country was applauded for cracking down on bankers and executives whose market manipulations contributed to the collapse of the nation’s economy in 2008.
In sports, the El Clasico clash last weekend between Barcelona and Real Madrid was the most talked about event. Hashtags #HalaMadrid and #ElClasico trended during and after the match, which saw the 10-men Real Madrid beat Barcelona courtesy of a Ronaldo goal. The Champions league knock out stage match between Manchester City and PSG last night, which was termed the ‘El Cashico’ by some reports, also made it into the trending list with the hashtag #mcfc. The trending cricket headline included the T20 world cup final clash between West Indies and England, that ended in West Indies beating England and becoming the T20 world champions.
Two other notable events that were seen trending this week were the Step Conference and the Bett Middle East. The former took place on April 4-5 and was one of the largest interactive event of MENA, while the latter is a four-day leadership forum that begun yesterday and has been trending since then in UAE.
