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epa05243202 (FILE) A file handout picture made available on 04 October 2015 by Syria's official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) shows Syrian President Bashar al-Assad speaking during an interview in Damascus, Syria. Assad is one of the allegedly involved as millions of leaked documents published on 03 April 2016 suggest that 140 politicians and officials from around the globe, including 72 former and current world leaders, have connections with secret 'offshore' companies to escape tax scrutiny in their countries. The leak involves 11.5 million documents from one of the world's largest offshore law firms, Mossack Fonseca, based in Panama. The investigation dubbed 'The Panama Papers' was undertaken and headed by German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung and Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), with the collaboration of reporters from more than 100 media outlets in 78 countries around the world. EPA/SANA HANDOUT HANDOUT EDITORIAL USE ONLY/NO SALES *** Local Caption *** 52675016