Politically influential people made up a significant portion of the clients at an offshore bank in the Isle of Man according to a Brookings Institute researcher who analyzed data from a breach published by Distributed Denial of Secrets.

Long considered one of the world’s most secretive financial jurisdictions, responsible for concealing hundreds of billions in illicit wealth coming in from abroad, the British Virgin Islands is now facing a wide-ranging probe into allegations of corruption within its own institutions and government. 

Investigative journalists and civil society groups are encouraged by the news that the government of the British Virgin Islands, BVI, – one of the world’s most notorious financial secrecy jurisdictions – plans to make company ownership publicly accessible information.

The United Kingdom will force companies in its territories to join public registers in order to combat corruption and tax avoidance, the government announced Tuesday.

The aide of former president Goodluck Jonathan and three other Nigerian ex-officials have been named in a massive US$ 20 million Swiss bribery scandal, media reported Sunday.