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Panama Papers

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Map of countries with public officials implicated in the leak[1]

The Panama Papers is a news leak of confidential documents from the offshore tax haven specialist law firm Mossack Fonseca. The leaks exposed assets of political officials and other prominent officials that were previously undisclosed. The leak consists of 11.5 million internal documents from Mossack Fonseca. An anonymous source contacted the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung over a year prior to the leak. The newspaper subsequently shared the files with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The papers were distributed and analyzed by 107 media organizations in over 80 countries by around 400 journalists.[2] Their first reports were released on April 3, 2016. The full list of companies are set to be released in early May.[3]

Contents

The coordinated leak consists of 11.5 million documents from Panama-based Mossack Fonseca, which The Guardian described as "the world's fourth biggest offshore law firm".[4] The 2.6 terabytes of data names 140 offshore firms related to public officials. The papers were reviewed by journalists across 80 countries.[4] Gerard Ryle, director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, predicted that the leak would be "the biggest blow the offshore world has ever taken" due to the breadth of leaked documents.[5]

Early reports noted financial and power connections between multiple high-ranking political figures and their relatives.[6][4][7] The anti-corruption Argentinian President Mauricio Macri was listed as a director of a Bahamas-based trading company that he did not disclose when mayor of Buenos Aires.[6] The Guardian reported that the leak revealed an extensive conflict of interest connection between a member of the FIFA Ethics Committee and former FIFA vice president Eugenio Figueredo.[8]

Leak

More than a year before the Panama leaks in 2016, the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung received documents related to Mossack Fonseca from an anonymous source.[9]

The leaked document size dwarfs Wikileaks Cablegate (1.7 GB), Offshore Leaks (260 GB), Lux Leaks (4 GB), and Swiss Leaks (3.3 GB). The data primarily comprises e-mails, pdf files, photos, and excerpts of an internal Mossack Fonseca database. It covers a period spanning from the 1970s to the spring of 2016.[9] The Panama Papers leak provide data on some 214,000 companies. There's a folder for each shell firm that contains e-mails, contracts, transcripts, and scanned documents.[9] The leak comprises of 4,804,618 emails, 3,047,306 database format files, 2,154,264 PDFs, 1,117,026 images, 320,166 text files, and 2,242 in other file formats.[9]

The data had to be systematically indexed. This was done with a proprietary software called Nuix, which is also used by international investigators. The documents were fed to high-performance computers for optical character recognition processing, making the data machine-readable and searchable. Compiled lists of important persons were then cross matched against the processed documents.[9] The next step in the analysis is to connect persons, roles, flow of money and legality of structures.[9]

Impact

Following an interview with The Guardian in advance of the leak, Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson and his wife issued public statements about journalist encroachment in their private lives and insisted on the completeness of their legal disclosures. Gunnlaugsson was expected to receive calls for a snap election in parliament.[10] The leak is described as the "biggest leak in the history of data journalism" by Edward Snowden.[11]

Partial list of named individuals

Source: Panama Papers: The Power Players[7]

Acting heads of state and government

Former heads of state and government

Members of government (current and former)

Cambodia
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Iceland
Saudi Arabia
United Kingdom
Venezuela
  • Jesús Villanueva, former director of PDVSA[20]
Zambia
  • Attan Shansonga, former Ambassador of Zambia to the United States[21]

Relatives and associates of members of government

Azerbaijan
Pakistan
Russia
Rwanda
  • Emmanuel Ndahiro, Brigadier General and former chief of the intelligence agency[22]
Senegal
South Africa
Spain
United Kingdom
Venezuela
  • Victor Cruz Weffer, former commander-in-chief of the Army[28]

FIFA

Named individuals connected with the world governing body of association football, FIFA, include:

Full list

The ICIJ will release the full list of companies and people in the Panama Paper files in early May.[30]

References

  1. ^ "The Power Players". International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  2. ^ http://panamapapers.sueddeutsche.de/articles/56febff0a1bb8d3c3495adf4/
  3. ^ https://panamapapers.icij.org/graphs/methodology/
  4. ^ a b c Garside, Juliette; Watt, Holly; Pegg, David (April 3, 2016). "The Panama Papers: how the world's rich and famous hide their money offshore". The Guardian. Archived from the original on April 3, 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  5. ^ Bilton, Richard (April 3, 2016). "Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens". BBC News. Archived from the original on April 3, 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  6. ^ a b Fusion Investigative Unit (April 3, 2016). "Here are the famous politicos in 'the Wikileaks of the mega-rich'". Fusion. Archived from the original on April 3, 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Panama Papers: The Power Players". International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  8. ^ a b Gibson, Owen (April 3, 2016). "Leaked papers give Fifa ethics committee new credibility crisis". The Guardian. Archived from the original on April 3, 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  9. ^ a b c d e f Obermaier, Frederik; Obermayer, Bastian; Wormer, Vanessa; Jaschensky, Wolfgang (April 3, 2016). "About the Panama Papers". Süddeutsche Zeitung. Archived from the original on April 3, 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ Bowers, Simon (April 3, 2016). "Iceland's PM faces calls for snap election after offshore revelations". The Guardian. Archived from the original on April 3, 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2016. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ "Twitter: Edward Snowden". Twitter. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  12. ^ "The Power Players: Ahmad Ali al-Mirghani". ICIJ. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  13. ^ "Power Players: Ang Vong Vathana". projects.icij.org. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  14. ^ "Power Players: Jaynet Désirée Kabila Kyungu". projects.icij.org. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  15. ^ "Power Players: Ólöf Nordal". projects.icij.org. International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  16. ^ "The Power Players: Muhammad bin Nayef". ICIJ. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  17. ^ "The Power Players: Michael Ashcroft". ICIJ. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  18. ^ "The Power Players: Michael Mates". ICIJ. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  19. ^ "The Power Players: Pamela Sharples". ICIJ. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  20. ^ "The Power Players: Jesús Villanueva". ICIJ. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  21. ^ "The Power Players: Victor Cruz Weffer". ICIJ. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  22. ^ "The Power Players: Emmanuel Ndahiro". ICIJ. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  23. ^ "The Power Players: Mamadou Pouye". ICIJ. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  24. ^ "The Power Players: Clive Khulubuse Zuma". ICIJ. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  25. ^ "The Power Players: Pilar de Borbón". ICIJ. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  26. ^ "The Power Players: Micaela Domecq Solís-Beaumont". ICIJ. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  27. ^ "The Power Players: Ian Cameron". ICIJ. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  28. ^ "The Power Players: Victor Cruz Weffer". ICIJ. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  29. ^ a b c d "Group of death: FIFA officials' financial secrets exposed in new Wikileaks-style trove". Fusion. April 3, 2016. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
  30. ^ "Panama Papers | The Power Players". projects.icij.org. Retrieved April 3, 2016.
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