The Panama Papers scandal only deepens, as a journalists’ group with access to the digital cache of documents is going to put many of them online.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) is set to release the documents in a searchable database at 1800 GMT on Monday, accessible to the public at offshoreleaks.icij.org.
The US-based organisation said the release will not be a ‘data dump’, the sort that Wikileaks group came to be known for. It will reveal names and information on 200,000 offshore entities, set up by wealthy individuals worldwide.
The documents are from 2.6 terabytes of data given to a German newspaper, Sueddeutsche Zeitung, over a year ago by an anonymous source using the name “John Doe.” The data came from nearly four decades of digital archives of one Panamanian law firm – Mossack Fonseca – that specialised in creating and running offshore entities, which says its computer records were hacked from abroad.
The German newspaper gave access to the trove to the ICIJ, and through it, to hundreds of journalists in different countries. Reports so far have focused on scores of high-profile individuals: political leaders, celebrities and a few criminals.
- Iceland’s Prime Minister was forced to resign when his name was linked to an offshore company.
- British Prime Minister David Cameron admitted he profited from an offshore firm started by his father.
- Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest circle was named in the revelations, prompting Putin to claim the Panama Papers was a US plot against him.
- Argentine President Mauricio Macri was also linked to offshore companies.
- China censored media and online social networks from mentioning links between the families of Chinese leaders with offshore entities.
- Other notable people listed by the documents include Argentine football star Lionel Messi, Hong Kong film star Jackie Chan and Spanish movie director Pedro Almodovar.
The organisation said it is important that the public be able to look at information on any offshore company in the Panama Papers.
We think that information about who owns the company should be public and transparent.Marina Walker Guevara, Deputy Director ICIJ, to CNN
Mossack Fonseca on Thursday issued a “cease and desist” lawyer to the US-based ICIJ, saying putting up the information publicly would violate attorney-client privilege. However, there is no sign of the ICIJ calling off the online database.
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