Last Sunday, the culmination of over a year of research by 370 journalists from 107 news organizations, was released to the public. The research, started by a leak to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, is a collection of over 11 million documents detailing the financial actions rich and powerful individuals around the world have taken to dodge taxes and sanctions, and launder money.
The documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca connect to 140 politicians in over 50 countries. Government leaders of Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Iceland, Georgia, Qatar and Iraq were among those named in the documents. Among them is the Prime Minister of Iceland, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson who is now facing calls for his resignation.
Iceland’s Prime Minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, under pressure to resign due to his involvement in the Panama Papers scandal
“I think the leak will prove to be probably the biggest blow the offshore world has ever taken because of the extent of the documents,” ICIJ director Gerard Ryle said to the BBC. The files go back through 40 years of the inner workings of the secretive law firm.
Some FIFA officials were also named in the documents, including Juan Pedro Damiani, who sits on FIFA’s ethics committee. FIFA said it is now investigating Mr Damiani, who told Reuters on Sunday that he broke off relations with the FIFA member under investigation as soon as the latter had been accused of corruption.
The reports also revealed a billion dollar money laundering ring by close associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin. President Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the reports were down to “journalists and members of other organisations actively trying to discredit Putin and this country’s leadership.”
Several of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s close friends have been named in the scandal