Panama Leaks

The story goes like this: leaked documents from the law firm "Mossack Fonseca," considered the fourth largest law firm in the world, were released a year ago. The firm has been in operation for 40 years and is famous for its strength and extensive influence in international cases, customs clearance, financial transactions, and global investments. Its headquarters is in Panama, which is considered a very important business center globally because of the Panama Canal, which connects the Pacific Ocean with the Atlantic and is operated by a company owned by the United States. It's also because of its widespread reputation with offshore companies, which are companies that conduct operations behind the scenes.

These documents prompted the head of the firm and its founder, "Ramon Fonseca Mora," to issue a statement claiming that the leak was "a criminal act and an attack on the entire country of Panama," without denying its authenticity. However, Panama rejected this statement and announced that it would open a judicial investigation into these leaked documents.

So, what's the story behind these documents from the beginning?

An anonymous person sent 11.5 million documents to a German newspaper called "Süddeutsche Zeitung," totaling 2.6 terabytes of data. These documents are original financial operations and personal documents from more than 214,000 offshore companies in over 200 countries. They implicate and accuse 140 political leaders, including 13 current and former heads of state and government, of laundering money, tax evasion, and public theft. The documents continued to leak until December 2015.

This German newspaper sent these documents to 370 journalists worldwide from over 70 countries to investigate the credibility of these documents. International media institutions joined in analyzing these documents, with the number reaching 107 institutions in 78 countries, including The Guardian and BBC. Yesterday, the president of the "International Consortium of Investigative Journalists" came out, and the headquarters of this consortium is in Washington, America, and stated that these documents are considered "the largest leak in history." They published the documents on a website called "Panama Papers."

The names of the individuals announced so far, who are implicated and proven guilty by these documents, include (Hosni Mubarak and his son Alaa in cooperation with HSBC Egypt - Russian President Vladimir Putin and his associates - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad - Former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi - Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif - Iyad Allawi, former interim Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq - Petro Poroshenko, President of Ukraine - Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, Prime Minister of Iceland - Argentine President Mauricio Macri - The family of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev - The father of British Prime Minister David Cameron - Some members of the British House of Commons - Key members of FIFA's Ethics Committee - Princes and their families in the Gulf region - Barcelona player Lionel Messi and his father - Members of the former UEFA president Michel Platini and FIFA official Jerome Valcke - Argentine businessmen Hugo and Mariano Jinkis and their involvement in the FIFA corruption case in 2015).

The first legal response today was from the Australian Taxation Office, which stated that it would investigate documents from the Panama leaks for tax evasion and money laundering operations involving more than 800 wealthy Australian clients and linking them to 120 companies and service providers in Hong Kong.

The first public reaction today saw thousands in Iceland protesting, demanding the resignation of the prime minister implicated in the leaks.

What's hidden is greater, and what's to come is even greater and greater.