By Taylor Clewell
Life’s most complex questions can be made simple when broken down into the 5Ws: who, what, when, where, and why?
Background: In mid-April, a set of more than 11 million documents about the financial accounts of public figures were leaked to global media. The aftermath has left citizens across the globe wondering who their leaders truly are. These reports have been dubbed “The Panama Papers”.
Here is what you need to know:
Who was impacted by the leak:
An article published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICNJ), who globally publicized the leak following a report in German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, states that, “A massive leak of documents exposes the offshore holdings of 12 current and former world leaders and reveals how associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin secretly shuffled as much as $2 billion through banks and shadow companies.”
To further explain, the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project has broken down the repercussions of the release into sections based on country. A few major players include Spain’s Lionel Andrés Messi, England’s Prime Minister David Cameron, Iceland’s (former) Prime Minister Sigurður Ingi Jóhannsson, and King Salman of Saudi Arabia, and more.
What did the documents say:
The Guardian reports that “the documents show the myriad ways in which the rich can exploit secretive offshore tax regimes.” In other words, the Panama Papers are a series of documents that reveal the corruption of governments around the world.
When were these documents leaked:
The German Newspaper released the papers in April of 2015. The documents underwent analysis by the ICNJ and were made available to the just a few weeks ago.
Where is the law firm the papers were released from?
Why is this relevant:
Mossack Fonseca, a Latin American law firm, is based in Panama, but operates globally, as the Guardian reports.
New York Times states that so far, no Americans have been affected by the leak. Yet eh relevance to us remains: based upon the ideas that the US was built on- that is, a government for the people, by the people. It seems to me that we ought to have a right to know what our politicians are up to.
