Panama Papers reveal middlemen between Canada and offshore secrets

Fred Sharp helped register 1,167 offshore entities from his Vancouver office

Names and details from the Panama Papers — including the identities of at least 625 Canadians — are being made public at 2 p.m. ET today by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Check back here for a searchable database.

A former lawyer whose business handled 1,167 offshore companies. A man who lied his way through a top job at the Alberta legislature and a dizzying stint as an offshore financial guru before landing in prison for fraud. A Toronto company that says it doesn't do the offshore bidding of any Canadians, but set up a Caribbean company for a Montrealer now charged in a $290-million US stock swindle.

These are among the most prolific Canadian offshore operators in the enormous trove of leaked financial data known as the Panama Papers, according to analysis by CBC and the Toronto Star, which have exclusive access to the files in Canada.

Their names — as well as some confidential details on the nearly 2,000 offshore entities they've sprouted over the years, in far-flung jurisdictions like the Seychelles and Niue — will become public this afternoon.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the Washington-based organization co-ordinating the global media team reporting on the leaked records, is making a key part of the Panama Papers data available online. The material consists of lists of clients and their offshore companies dating back to 1977 from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, one of the biggest creators of offshore corporations in the world.

• Panama Papers names go public
• RBC to turn over files on Panama Papers clients to taxman

But beyond the headlines, the Canadians' stories offer a rare insider glimpse at the often murky world of offshore havens, where legitimate business dealings share an uneasy coexistence alongside the machinations of scam artists, money launderers, rogue states and the politically corrupt.

"I don't think most people understand — or why should they? — how does the offshore world work," said Kim Marsh, a former RCMP commander for global organized crime and now a private-sector expert on international money laundering and corruption.