[Controversial] The Problem with the Panama Papers, the Biggest Leak Ever

The Panama papers, leaked from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, is the biggest leak in journalistic history. It’s also one that was analysed in secret for over a year, by a select number of papers; the database of documents itself isn’t searchable by everyone, even after being kept secret for so long. We explore some of the irregularities presented by this tera-normous leak.

Mainstream Media

The mainstream media was quick to use the leak for their own agenda, literally focusing first and foremost on Putin above every other name mentioned in the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) report. The Guardian’s first article on the matter was a story devoted to Putin. The only other party who has faced nearly as much criticism is the Icelandic PM, who is “handing over the office of prime minister for an unspecified time.”

(Interestingly, at least one of the reasons for this was because of his personal stake in Icelandic banks, which in turn may have colored his decision to export the losses of the collapsing banks onto foreign investors, rather than indenture Icelandic citizens. While he may have personally benefited from the decision, Iceland has also had the strongest real recovery among its European peers.)

Putin, for his part, was not directly implicated – in the same way that David Cameron, whose father was found to have set up a shell company based in the British Virgin Islands, was not. However, the mainstream media has been quick to point its finger at him… often going easy on Cameron, or forgetting to mention him altogether. There are also a number of others who are directly implicated, including pro-Western Ukrainian chocolate emperor Petro Poroshenko.

This is not to say that Putin is necessarily innocent of corrupt behavior, but that it is in the interest of the Western political establishment to focus the public’s attention on someone who has been a thorn in their side.

The ICIJ

There is a notable shortage of American names, particularly well-known American names, in the report – the company has 441 US clients after all, and is one of the countries with the MOST clients being serviced by Mossack Fonseca – dwarfing Russia’s 74. Indeed, it appears that the U.S. is second in that regard only to Hong Kong, which has a whopping 2192 clients. The editor of  the Süddeutsche Zeitung, the paper that received the leak, has responded to the dearth of US names by saying “wait. Just look at what’s coming…”

Craig Murray, former British ambassador to Uzbekistan, is no stranger to controversy. In July 2004 he told The Guardian that “there is no point in having cocktail-party relationships with a fascist regime,” and in October 2004, he was dismissed from his post. In December 2005, the man criticized the British PM for publicly claiming that the UK does not condone torture, while secretly allowing it to occur in Uzbekistan, then considered a “vital” ally in the unending “war on terror.”

He writes:

“The Suddeutsche Zeitung, which received the leak, gives a detailed explanation of the methodology the corporate media used to search the files. The main search they have done is for names associated with breaking UN sanctions regimes. The Guardian reports this too and helpfully lists those countries as Zimbabwe, North Korea, Russia and Syria. The filtering of this Mossack Fonseca information by the corporate media follows a direct western governmental agenda. There is no mention at all of use of Mossack Fonseca by massive western corporations or western billionaires – the main customers. And the Guardian is quick to reassure that “much of the leaked material will remain private.”

What do you expect? The leak is being managed by the grandly but laughably named “International Consortium of Investigative Journalists”, which is funded and organised entirely by the USA’s Center for Public Integrity. Their funders include

Ford Foundation
Carnegie Endowment
Rockefeller Family Fund
W K Kellogg Foundation
Open Society Foundation (Soros)

among many others. Do not expect a genuine expose of western capitalism. The dirty secrets of western corporations will remain unpublished.

Expect hits at Russia, Iran and Syria and some tiny “balancing” western country like Iceland. A superannuated UK peer or two will be sacrificed – someone already with dementia.

The corporate media – the Guardian and BBC in the UK – have exclusive access to the database which you and I cannot see. They are protecting themselves from even seeing western corporations’ sensitive information by only looking at those documents which are brought up by specific searches such as UN sanctions busters. Never forget the Guardian smashed its copies of the Snowden files on the instruction of MI6.”

If it sounds too good to be true…
Sources: Craig Murray, The NYT, Scoop, The Guardian, Bustle, Forbes, New Yorker, Zerohedge

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