The Panama Papers: Probably the Biggest Leak of All Time

Saw the headline. Have yet to check it out.

So far nothing huge (other than the sheer size of the data leaked) that I have seen, but it could get juicy, and a lot of prominent people are going to be asked uncomfortable questions about their connections to offshore companies. Will be interesting to see where it goes.

Ah, so, perhaps.

A few names have ready been published here (the Süddeutsche Zeitung got the leaked papers first).
And some of the named already reacted.

It will be interesting to read on in the next couple of days ...

This is getting a lot of attention here. Fonseca is an important name in some political circles. Waiting to hear exactly what comes out of this.

2.6 terabytes of data, cover nearly 40 years of records - that will take some time.

I suspect information will be leaked for years to come.

Well, some have already looked through most of the papers - at least according to what Georg Mascolo, head of the German investigative group (NDR, WDR and Süddeutsche Zeitung) said in a talk show yesterday.

Yeah, but details of these things get released to the public rather slowly most of the time.

The leak of the files first came to Süddeutsche Zeitung, the Munich-based daily newspaper. The paper explains (>in English<) the background of how it acquired the leak from a still-anonymous source. They also have a very illuminating video (partly in German but with English subtitles), explaining the genesis of the leak.

The paper also has a microsite containing all its stories on the subject, as well as some nicely retro accompanying illustrations (>here<).
There is a smaller selection of the stories in English. (>here<)

Your first link does not work as you said it would.

From today's Telegraph....

10 things we've learnt from the leaked Panama Papers


The hidden wealth of some of the world’s most prominent leaders, politicians and celebrities has been revealed by an unprecedented leak of millions of documents that show some of the ways in which the rich can exploit secretive offshore tax regimes.

Dubbed the Panama Files, the 11 million documents were leaked from a Panamanian law firm called Mossack Fonseca.

They show how the company has helped clients launder money, dodge sanctions and evade tax.

The company says it has operated beyond reproach for 40 years and has never been charged with criminal wrong-doing.

What the Panama Papers reveal:

1. Twelve national leaders are among 143 politicians, their families and close associates from around the world known to have been using offshore tax havens.

2. National leaders with offshore wealth include Pakistan’s prime minister, Nawaz Sharif; former vice-president of Iraq, Ayad Allawi; president of the Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko and the son of Egypt’s former president, Alaa Mubarak.

3. Leaked documents also show the prime minister of Iceland, Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, and his wife bought an offshore company in 2007. He did not declare an interest in the company when entering parliament in 2009 and sold his 50% to his wife for 70p, eight months later. The offshore company was used to invest millions of dollars of inherited money, according to a document signed by Mr Gunnlaugsson's wife Anna Sigurlaug Palsdottir in 2015.

4. The files also reveal a suspected billion-dollar money laundering ring involving close associates of Russia’s President Putin. The operation was run by Bank Rossiya, which is subject to US and EU sanctions following Russia's annexation of Crimea.

5. Three former Conservative MPs, six members of the House of Lords and dozens of donors to UK political parties have had offshore assets.


6.Clients of Mossack Fonseca include 23 people who have had sanctions imposed on them for supporting regimes in North Korea, Zimbabwe, Russia, Iran, and Syria.

7.A member of Fifa’s ethics committee, meant to be leading reform at world football’s scandal-hit governing body, acted as a lawyer for individuals and companies recently charged with bribery and corruption.

8. The families of at least eight current and former members of China’s supreme ruling body have been found to have hidden wealth offshore.


9. Mossack Fonseca provided structures designed to hide the identity of real owners including beneficiary services. One American millionaire was apparently offered fake ownership records to hide money from the authorities – this included using a 90-year-old British man as a ‘beneficial owner’.

10. The data also contains secret offshore companies linked to the families and associates of Egypt's former president Hosni Mubarak, Libya's former leader Muammar Gaddafi and Syria's president Bashar al-Assad.


More......
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/04/04/ten-things-we-know-so-far-about-the-leaked-panama-papers/

I have this terrible feeling they're going to get away with it. The wall between these people and us makes them untouchable.

Watching.

Sorry. I did, when I posted it. They seem to update the English version ... a lot more has been published in German already.

>Updated English website< @ Süddeutsche Zeitung

Good stuff, Walter, your Lordyship . . . thanks.

Of course they will get away with it. They could afford to buy these illegal services, they can afford to buy complete security. People like Putin are untouchable. Even someone relatively small-time like Allawi is untouchable. Are you going to go into to Iraq and hunt him down in his tribal sanctuary? More than that, they can travel the world in relative security because the powers that be in other nations are themselves members of the club--you and i are not.

Report @ The Guardian

The Guardian has a continuously updated >website<: Panama Papers live: world reacts to huge leak of offshore tax files

Get away with what though? There's nothing inherently illegal about having offshore companies (I live next door to Panama and seriously considered opening a company with that firm) and I'm not sure that any crimes have even yet been exposed here.

I'm sure that there are crimes to be exposed in this data but am not aware of any that have been yet.