A group of journalists who obtained a cache of more than 2.5 million
internal files from two Virgin Islands trust companies has created a public database of some of the information, which it posted on its website Friday.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists collaborated with news organisations across the globe and in April began publishing a series of articles titled “Secrecy for Sale: Inside the Global Offshore Money Maze.” Information used to publish the articles — such as the names of offshore companies, their beneficial owners and listed addresses — are included in the database, though the original files themselves are not.
According to the ICIJ, the database includes information about companies incorporated in 10 jurisdictions, including the VI, the Cook Islands, Singapore and the Cayman Islands, and readers are invited to “discover the networks” around “more than 100,000 offshore entities in tax havens.”
VI officials have repeatedly criticised the ICIJ’s articles — which were generated using leaked data from the firms Commonwealth Trust Limited and Portcullis TrustNet — as unfairly portraying the territory’s financial services sector in a negative light.
See the June 20, 2013 edition for full coverage.