The public gained its first access to the Panama Papers records of over 200,000 secret offshore companies Monday when the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists put a searchable database up online.
The database, built on just a portion of the 11.5 million documents leaked from the Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca, reveals more than 360,000 names of individuals and companies behind the anonymous shell firms, the ICIJ said.
Watson’s spokesperson confirmed the 26-year-old had set up an offshore company. However, the spokesperson said she does not receive any tax or monetary advantages whatsoever. Instead, the spokesperson said she uses it for privacy purposes.
“Emma (like many high profile individuals) set up an offshore company for the sole purpose of protecting her anonymity and safety,” her spokesperson said in a statement.
“UK companies are required to publicly publish details of their shareholders and therefore do not give her the necessary anonymity required to protect her personal safety, which has been jeopardised in the past owing to such information being publicly available.
“Offshore companies do not publish these shareholder details. Emma receives absolutely no tax or monetary advantages from this offshore company whatsoever – only privacy.”
