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Who is who in “Squid Game”? Reflections on the Pandora Papers

Writer: StrategosBIP
StrategosBIP
Oct 8, 2021
4 min read

The powerful revel in their ingenuity, as in the Netflix series, in an invisible world behind a facade of legality. But Pandora showed they are not infallible.


By Juan Carlos Buitrago Arias | October 8, 2021


Image accompanying the article on the Pandora Papers, tax evasion and corruption.

Containing white-collar tax evaders, money launderers, drug traffickers and smugglers requires investigative units protected on every front.


The Pandora Papers alert us to an untouchable elite of tax evaders, smugglers and money launderers: white-collar criminals operating from tax havens as though taking part in “Squid Game,” the record-breaking Netflix series in which the rich enjoy themselves while the poor kill one another for money and survival.


Who is who in “Squid Game”—and in the Pandora Papers? Who are the powerful figures and criminals who conceal unlawful activities behind an appearance of legality? Why do more than 28 million Colombians, according to the DANE statistics agency, remain in poverty, trapped in a losing game and a landscape of despair? They watch helplessly as scandal follows scandal, including the Pandora Papers: 12 million documents involving 588 Colombians, some prominent, who will have to explain the origin of their money to the authorities and why it was not declared to the DIAN. Why was it hidden?


Tax evasion linked to smuggling alone amounts to 4.6 trillion pesos annually, alongside 1.7 trillion pesos in tax evasion over the past 15 years—a loss to the state equivalent to three tax reforms. Added to this are the 50 trillion pesos that, according to the Comptroller General, corrupt actors steal from the country: the same people who applaud from the stands as the desperate suffer in “Squid Game.”

In recent administrations, the DIAN has been led by outstanding professionals with experience, technical training, strategic vision, proven honesty and a determination to fight corruption. Their commitment to dismantling tax-fraud networks, smuggling and corruption has come at a serious personal cost through pressure, threats and smear campaigns. Yet this has not been enough.


In its latest restructuring, the DIAN created a support subdirectorate for combating tax and customs crime. Implementation is progressing, but it needs operational capacity in intelligence and judicial investigation. The Attorney General’s Office is moving in the same direction: in December 2020 it established a specialized tax-crime directorate under its criminal-finance division, led by prosecutors recognized for their experience, expertise, results and transparency.


The 2015 Anti-Smuggling Law created an interagency commission to combat tax, customs and foreign-exchange offenses. It produced 11 strategic initiatives and assigned specific roles and responsibilities to each agency. Coordination has been inconsistent, bureaucratic and slow, with insufficient commitment from the institutions’ leaders. The Pandora Papers demonstrate these shortcomings. There is an urgent need to integrate efforts, resources and leadership and take decisive action against thousands of tax-fraud networks hidden at home and abroad.

The greatest weakness lies in pursuing violations of tax and customs law: there is no strong criminal-investigation structure dedicated exclusively to these offenses.

The greatest weakness lies in pursuing violations of tax and customs law. There is no strong criminal-investigation structure dedicated exclusively to investigating these offenses. The DIAN and the Attorney General’s Office currently rely on the Financial Information and Analysis Unit (UIAF), the Fiscal and Customs Police (POLFA), the Criminal Investigation and INTERPOL Directorate (DIJIN), and the Technical Investigation Corps (CTI). This remains insufficient, particularly as priorities, resources and staffing shift with leadership changes in these institutions.


In other countries, tax and customs authorities have strong intelligence and criminal-investigation units specializing exclusively in supporting administrative and criminal proceedings to penalize tax and customs evasion. Colombia has judicial police attached to the Fiscal and Customs Police, but their capacity is limited. The Attorney General’s Office is overwhelmed by more than 27,000 investigations into these offenses.

Working with the DIAN, the UIAF and prosecutors, the Fiscal and Customs Police have dealt major blows to tax evaders. Notable operations include dismantling the VAT cartel in 2012, which led to the arrest of Blanca Jazmín Becerra, who defrauded the state through unlawful VAT refunds totaling more than 3.4 trillion pesos over eight years; the 2015 arrest of the “Scrap Metal Tsar,” James Arias, who returned assets worth 390 billion pesos to the state; and the operation against the so-called “Mistress of Evil,” who set up a fake-invoice factory and 15 shell companies in Bogotá’s Ricaurte neighborhood, serving more than 2,500 Colombian companies and defrauding the state of 2.3 trillion pesos. These results deserve recognition. Yet the powerful continue to revel in their ingenuity, as in “Squid Game,” in an invisible world behind a mask of legality. They are not infallible, as the Pandora Papers demonstrated.


To protect the national economy and contain white-collar tax evaders, money launderers, drug traffickers and smugglers—fierce forces that fuel corruption—Colombia needs investigative units protected on every front, free from corruption and subject to rigorous tests of trustworthiness and honesty. They should have exceptional intelligence and criminal-investigation powers in tax and customs matters, directly support the DIAN and the Attorney General’s Office, and bring together civilian and police experts in financial crime and organized crime. With cutting-edge forensic and technical tools, they could expose, trace and block the unlawful activities of those who remain cynically active in “Squid Game,” many of them identified in the Colombian Pandora Papers. Nothing stays hidden under the sun.


LPNSN: Chapters I and III of the book Los principios no se negocian (Principles Are Non-Negotiable), titled “The Legal Appearance of Illegality” and “The World of the Invisible,” introduce surprising figures and events immersed in this “Squid Game.”




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