When the Panama Papers were released in 2016, they thrust a spotlight on the tax affairs of the rich and powerful.

A major international leak of more than 13 million files - known as the Paradise Papers - reveal how the super-rich invest vast amounts of money in offshore tax havens.

Latest: Malta has appealed to the FBI and to European forensic experts to help investigate the car bomb death of the country's leading investigative journalist.

In the wake of the Panama Papers leak, Ryle Dwyer looks at the Irish connection in the form of Gerard Ryle, the Kerry-born journalist with the drive to expose scandal worldwide

THE publication of the Panama Papers followed LuxLeaks as the latest alliterative example of our broken global financial system.

More than 11m documents have been passed to 107 media organisations shedding further light on the tax affairs of the rich and powerful.

The head of a major Russian state-owned bank dismissed as nonsense reports that President Vladimir Putin is linked to as much as €2bn in offshore transactions allegedly involving people close to the Kremlin leader.

Former Fine Gael strategist Frank Flannery has denied any knowledge of links between him and an off-shore British Virgin Islands account, saying he left the exact details of his financial deals up to his now deceased accountant.

British PM David Cameron has come under intense pressure to crack down on offshore tax havens after a massive data leak exposed the scale of efforts by the rich and powerful to hide assets.

More than 11 million documents have been passed to 107 media organisations across the globe which have shed further light on the tax affairs of the rich and powerful. Here's your essential guide.

Herve Falciani, whose data leak spawned global investigations into how HSBC Holdings allegedly helped clients avoid taxes, won’t appear in person to defend himself against charges of violating bank secrecy laws and risk arrest.

Herve Falciani, a former HSBC employee who leaked information on the bank’s clients and tax situation, has told Spanish newspaper El Mundo he had knowledge of other cases and could act again, adding his “work was not done”.

Authorities searched the offices of HSBC Holdings Plc’s Swiss private bank in Geneva yesterday as part of a money laundering probe. 

You simply could not make it up, writes Kyran FitzGerald.

HSBC Holdings Plc chief executive Stuart Gulliver offered “sincerest apologies” following fresh details of how the bank’s Swiss unit helped customers evade taxes.

France’s finance minister said yesterday that Paris had not restricted the use of HSBC client data it passed on to UK authorities to help pursue tax evaders, contradicting comments by a senior British official.

Media leaks on HSBC accounts held in Switzerland “are only the tip of the iceberg”, Herve Falciani, the former HSBC employee who supplied information on the bank’s clients and their tax situation, has told French daily Le Parisien.

Former world tennis number one Marat Safin has denied evading tax after a report linked him with Swiss bank accounts.

Big Four accountancy firm PwC was accused of promoting “tax avoidance on an industrial scale” to numerous multinational firms in a scathing report by MPs today.

The European Parliament’s Green Party has cleared the first legal hurdle for the creation of a committee to look into tax evasion in the wake of revelations about hundreds of secret deals for companies in Luxembourg.

Luxembourg’s government was taken by “complete surprise” by the amount of files revealed last week in a report detailing hundreds of secret corporate deals that allegedly helped multinationals dodge taxes during Jean-Claude Juncker’s tenure as prime minister.

European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker has sought to blunt an early challenge to his leadership by rebutting allegations that he presided over sweetheart corporate tax deals during almost 19 years as prime minister of Luxembourg.

Glanbia has defended itself against claims it used Luxembourg-based subsidiaries to lower its Irish tax bill, saying it had an effective corporate tax rate of 17% last year on its global earnings, with the majority of payments made to the Irish exchequer.

Luxembourg has fought back after a report revealed details of hundreds of secret tax deals with multinational companies as Germany’s finance minister said the nation has work to do on complying with global standards.

Your newspaper reported on the leak of millions of documents and emails that revealed the identities of holders of offshore accounts (“Identities of offshore account holders revealed”, Apr 5).

Millions of emails and leaked records from offshore tax havens have exposed the identities of thousands of holders of offshore accounts, including the family of the president of Azerbaijan and French president François Hollande’s former campaign treasurer, The Guardian and Le Monde newspapers reported.