Details of hundreds of Australians who used a secretive Panama law firm to set up offshore companies will be made public for the first time on Tuesday.
The details are contained in a huge database linked to the Panama Papers that is set to go live at 4.00am AEST tomorrow at https://offshoreleaks.icij.org.
The searchable database will detail more than 200,000 offshore entities set up by Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca, and the people behind them.
It is being launched by The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which led the probe into 11.5 million documents leaked from the law firm.
Australia's Taxation Office is investigating about 800 Australians in relation to the Panama Papers.
The Australian Financial Review, which has obtained the leaked documents from the ICIJ, says former Reserve Bank board member Robert Gerard is among those named.
The documents link Mr Gerard, who quit the RBA in 2005 amid a battle with the ATO over offshore companies, to two firms based in the British Virgin Islands.
He has previously denied any wrongdoing. The ICIJ has also previously stressed that individuals named in connection with the Panama Papers have not necessarily broken any laws if they have declared income earned from offshore companies for tax purposes.
The database comes as leaders from 40 countries prepare to join representatives from the IMF and World Bank for a major anti-corruption summit in London.
Justice Minister Michael Keenan will attend Thursday's summit, where leaders will discuss making company ownership details more transparent, and asset recovery.
He says Australia will sign up to a new international effort to tackle grand corruption and the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative, which aims to encourage more transparency in the oil, gas and mining sectors.
The federal government is also planning an annual business roundtable to foster co-operation on anti-corruption measures, and will provide $13 million to help developing nations tackle corruption.
Three hundred economists from around the world, including five from Australian universities, have signed a letter calling for the summit to end the secretive nature of offshore companies.
"The existence of tax havens does not add to overall global wealth or well-being; they serve no useful economic purpose," the letter, released by Oxfam on Monday, said.
"Whilst these jurisdictions undoubtedly benefit some rich individuals and multinational corporations, this benefit is at the expense of others, and they therefore serve to increase inequality."
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