Whistleblowers are a common occurrence in this digital age but on May 9, 2016 when the Panama Papers were released to the public it blew everyone away. Over 10 million documents were released proving corruption of celebrities, high ranking officials and politicians, some of them leaders of their respective countries. A couple months of media coverage had preceded the actual leak on the internet but nothing could prepare people for the magnitude of it all, It was a leak like no other and it left many to wonder where did it come from and how did something of this big happen without anyone in the public knowing? History of the Panama Papers The Panama Papers starts and stops with journalism. Without the tireless research of over a hundred journalists many of these facts might have never been released to the public.
It was all the way back in May of 2015 that Suddeutsche Zeitung, a German newspaper that was contacted by an anonymous source who “submitted encrypted internal documents from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm that sells anonymous offshore companies around the world”.1 After seeing the astonishing amount of documents that this source had at his disposal Suddeutsche Zeitung’s reporters knew they had to share this information with someone and they did sharing it with reporters from newspapers around the world including UK’s The Guardian, France’s Le Monde, and La Nacién in Argentina The source kept sending more and more documents that just kept the informational fire going and resulted in the largest leak of classified documents ever.
Over 2.6 TB (which is 2,600 GB) of data was released resulting in the widely known “Panama Papers”. The next biggest leak was lCIJ Offshore Leaks of 2013 which resulted in 260 GB of data leaked across the internet.Z From there the countless journalists involved had to spend hundreds of hours assessing the credibility of the facts stated in the Panama Papers and finding corresponding documents to back up the claims made. They made a database of the 11 million+ documents and finally released it to the public in May of 2015. Implications on the International Community The Panama Papers created a ripple effect that was felt the world over.
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After the events of Edward Snowden and his whistleblowing of the NSA people had become warier of their privacy and the abuse of the system by the rich 1% Recent events including the San Bernardino case where the FBI had wanted Apple to create a backdoor into their phones had resulted in many people being afraid to use their phones and Apple CEO responded accordingly stating that; “it would be wrong for the government to force us to build a backdoor into our products. And ultimately, we fear that this demand would undermine the very freedoms and liberty our government is meant to protect,”3 This was just another example of how hacking and security affects everyone, notjust the people named in the news. The Panama Papers were not only a huge leak but something that made the general public feel very vtllnerable and angry.
In Iceland the Prime Minister’s family and even himself had sheltered money offshore, “After huge public outcry in Iceland Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson ended up stepping aside from his job as the Prime Minister for an unspecified time”.‘ Many Icelandic citizens were happy that he decided to step aside but were still frustrated that the government wasn‘t being investigated more and held accountable for the accountable. The Icelandic Prime Minister was the first major casualty of this leak but certainly wasn’t the last Several other Head of States were named in the Papers among them, Argentinian President Mauricio Macri, President of Ecuador Rafael Correa and Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, As shown here the Panama Papers affected nearly every country in the world. “Of the 196 countries that exist in the world today 143 were mentioned in the Panama Paper“, usually in reference to the people living in those specific countries at the time, It really shows how this leak was necessary in uncovering the injustice of entitled people ignoring the law in each of their respective countries Also named were eight former and current Heads of State, ten former and current Heads of Government, and over five hundred government officials and relatives. Out of these people named only fifteen are currently under investigation and many have vehemently denied any illegality in their dealings in offshore accounts. While some of the people named here were acting completely within the law others seem to be protected by their star status, especially
someone like Lionel Messi who was under tax evasion fraud last year and was not thrown in jail because of his superstar status.7 Is it fair that many of these people are getting away with clearly illegal actions? Of course but sadly it takes time to investigate hundreds of people and hopefully after this revelation, companies that facilitate offshore accounts (like Mossack Fonseca) will be under harsher investigation from the international community Moving Forward When Mossack Fonseca was asked about the Panama Papers their response was quite interesting; “Our industry is not particularly well understood by the public, and unfortunately this series of articles will only serve to deepen that confusion.
The facts are these: while we may have been the victim of a data breach, nothing we’ve seen in this illegally obtained cache of documents suggests we’ve done anything illegal, and that’s very much in keeping with the global reputation we’ve built over the past 40 years of doing business the right way, right here in Panama.”B It’s quite shocking that after these documents were released that this company still denies any illegality in their actions. The denial of illegal activities not only is offensive to the public but also ruins the “sparkling” reputation that this company has built for itself. In the coming months, it will be interesting to see what happens to Mossack Fonseca as many governments wish to bring cases against them.
The UK, France, Spain, Italy and Canada have also stated that they will investigate anyone in their respective countries named in the Papers with transparency and openness being their number one priority. Russian high ups were named in the Papers and responded in kind calling the Panama Papers “full of lies and not to be taken seriously.” With countries responding differently the next few months will be the determinants in showing what fruit this leak will bring forth.
For now the public can be thankful to the countless reporters that dedicated thousands of man-hours to uncovering the truth and shining a light on the illegal dealings of the rich 1% For all that has been done there is still so much more investigating to be done but positive strides are being taken and there are still whistleblowers willing to take risks, to tell the truth The Panama Papers are the biggest leak in the history of the world and with over 10 million documents online for anyone to take a look at we know that the people involved in any illegal activity will be held accountable by the powers that be.
