{"id":4468,"date":"2016-04-26T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2016-04-26T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/amabhungane.org\/amabhungane\/stories\/panama-papers-info-to-be-made-public\/"},"modified":"2024-09-24T10:42:17","modified_gmt":"2024-09-24T10:42:17","slug":"panama-papers-info-to-be-made-public","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/panama-papers-info-to-be-made-public\/","title":{"rendered":"Panama Papers info to be made public"},"content":{"rendered":"

Picture: ICIJ<\/em><\/p>\n

The basic data from the \u201cPanama Papers\u201d will be released publicly on May 9, the International\u00a0Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) announced on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The ICIJ worked with journalists across the world, including amaBhungane in South Africa, to\u00a0trawl and investigative stories in the vast data trove after it was leaked to the Suddeutsche\u00a0<\/em>Zeitung.<\/em><\/p>\n

Now, the basic details of more than 200 000 offshore entities \u2013 including in many instances\u00a0their true owners\u00a0\u2013\u00a0will be searchable directly by the public.<\/p>\n

The data was leaked from Mossack Fonseca, a Panama law firm and top player in the offshore\u00a0world. It contains information about companies, trusts, foundations and funds incorporated in\u00a021 tax havens and links to people in more than 200 countries and territories.<\/p>\n

The public database, which will go live at https:\/\/offshoreleaks.icij.org<\/a> at 8pm South African\u00a0time on May 9, will also include information about more than 100 000 additional companies\u00a0that were part of the original 2013 ICIJ\u00a0Offshore Leaks investigation<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While the database opens up a world that has never been revealed on such a massive scale, the\u00a0application will not be a \u201cdata dump\u201d \u2013 it will be a careful release of basic corporate\u00a0information that ought to be public and transparent.<\/p>\n

ICIJ won\u2019t release personal data en masse; the database will not include records of bank\u00a0accounts and financial transactions, emails and other correspondence, passports and telephone\u00a0numbers. The selected and limited information is being published in the public interest.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile ICIJ and its media partners will continue to investigate and publish stories in the\u00a0weeks and months to come.<\/p>\n

The Panama Papers investigation revealed the\u00a0secret offshore dealings\u00a0<\/a>of world leaders and\u00a0other politicians as well as criminals and celebrities. It exposed the\u00a0role of big banks<\/a> in\u00a0facilitating secrecy and tax evasion. And it showed how companies and individuals blacklisted\u00a0for their links to terrorism, drug trafficking and other crimes were\u00a0able to do business<\/a> through\u00a0offshore jurisdictions.<\/p>\n

Since its release, the\u00a0Panama Papers investigation<\/a> has led to high profile resignations, including\u00a0the\u00a0prime minister of Iceland<\/a>; triggered\u00a0official inquiries<\/a> in multiple countries; and put pressure\u00a0on world leaders and other politicians, such as Britain\u2019s Prime Minister David Cameron, to\u00a0explain their connections\u00a0<\/a>to offshore companies.<\/p>\n

Locally, it has shed light on the allegations against alleged\u00a0corporate fraudster Gary Porritt<\/a> and\u00a0help lift the veil on the\u00a0award of Congolese oil blocks<\/a> to two mysterious offshore companies\u00a0fronted by Khulubuse Zuma<\/a>, the president\u2019s nephew.<\/p>\n

The leaks have sparked a new\u00a0sense of urgency<\/a> among lawmakers and regulators to close\u00a0loopholes and make information about the owners of shell companies public.<\/p>\n

<\/a>
\nThe amaBhungane Centre for Investigative Journalism produced this story. Like it? Be an amaB supporter<\/a> and help us do more. Know more? Send us <\/em>a tip-off.<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Details of more than 200 000 entities will be searchable by the public, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has announced.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22546,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4468","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-stories"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4468"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30741,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4468\/revisions\/30741"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4468"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4468"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/further.co.za\/amabwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}