The world was recently rocked by one of the biggest leaks of documents in history, a disclosure which subsequently became known as the Panama Papers. As revealed to the world by the so-called International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), the Panama Papers saw the unprecedented leak of 11.5 million files from the main database of the world’s fourth-largest offshore law firm, the Panama-based Mossack Fonseca.[1] The leak was of an even greater scale than the combined total of former leaks such as Wikileaks and Swiss Leaks, and covered data generated during a period which stretched from the 1970s until the spring of 2016.[2]
 
Out of the millions of files which were ultimately revealed, almost 900 Indonesian individuals or entities were referred to within the voluminous Panama Papers. These parties were revealed to be in possession of a number of shell companies, also known as special-purpose vehicles (“SPVs”), which were discovered to be located across a number of known tax-haven countries. The previously murky and opaque world of the little-known and seldom discussed SPV was thus thrust into the global and national spotlight.[3] In a bid to elaborate upon the not widely understood world of the SPV, this week’s edition of Indonesian Law Digest (ILD) will analyze and address several key issues which relate to Indonesian SPVs in general. Our discussion will confine itself to the following topics: