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FAQ Panama Papers by Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer

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FAQ Panama Papers by Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer FAQ Panama Papers By Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer Investigative work - Could you explain how the Panama Papers information was obtained? Could you explain whether such information is in itself complete or if some information may have been either not obtained/ left out of the leak/ not exposed? In other words, how representative is the data that you refer to in your publications for the “offshore world” in general? Süddeutsche Zeitung obtained the 2,6 terabyte of Panama-Papers-information from an anonymous source calling itself “John Doe”. We do not know which percentage of the internal information of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca this is. We guess it displays pretty much of their business. Süddeutsche Zeitung, ICIJ and its partners with whose Süddeutsche Zeitung shared the data have reported and are still reporting on cases of public interest. As this is such a big amount of data investigations take time. We are pretty sure that there will still be revelations that are at least in parts based on the Panama-Papers-data. The Panama Papers showed that there is a whole parallel world offshore in which the rich and powerful enjoy the freedom to avoid not just taxes but all kinds of laws they find inconvenient. Let’s face the facts: Hiding the real ownership of companies and thus also bank accounts is not an unique approach of Mossack Fonseca and its clients – it is one of the main reasons of individuals going offshore (with Mossack Fonseca’s help or the help of other providers). - Upon reception of the data, how did you organise your research? How did you select cases to focus on? Every member of the international team that worked (coordinated by the ICIJ) on the Panama Papers had access to the whole dataset. Thus there was no restriction which part to investigate or which not. It was up to the journalistic decision of every journalist and media outlet on which cases to report and on which not. The data provided rare insights into a world that can only exist in the shadows. It proves how a global industry led by major banks, legal firms, and asset management companies secretly manages the estates of the world’s rich and famous: hundreds of high ranking politicians, Fifa officials, fraudsters and drug smugglers, to celebrities and professional athletes. - Did you encounter obstacles (legal, pressure etc. in your investigative work? Have you felt pressure after the publication of the outcome of your inquiry? If yes, could you please explain? Some of the individuals and companies we wrote about hired expensive law firms, which send us long letters why we should not report about their case. Apart from some of these subtile threats of legal consequences fortunately there we no threats against both of us. It was nevertheless shocking to see the negative consequences of the Panama Papers for some of the involved journalists. In Hong Kong the executive chief editor of the Ming Pao newspaper, was dismissed hours after the Panama Papers revelations were made public. The official reason given for the sacking was that the paper had to cut costs. And our newspaper colleagues in Panama had to print the first issues about the Panama Papers at a secret location for fear that someone would use violence to stop their work. One of our Venezuelan colleagues was dismissed by her employer, the pro-regime newspaper Últimas Noticias. The website of our Tunisian partner – the online magazine Inkyfada – was attacked by hackers after it reported on the offshore connections of a former adviser to the president. And in Ecuador, President Rafael Correa tweeted the names of the journalists involved in the Panama Papers investigation. The message was clear: he wanted to put them under pressure. - Your investigative work could start thanks to the input from an (anonymous) whistle- blower. In your views is there any EU-legislation that (effectively) protects the position of whistle-blowers? No, unfortunately not. And this is a scandal, and a problem we have to solve. The Luxembourg-Leaks have shown the problem: the whistleblowers who uncovered how Luxembourg actually cheated on other EU-member states had to face trial - whereas one of the individuals responsible for the Luxembourg-tax-system is still in a high-ranking EU- position: Jean-Claude Juncker. Role of intermediaries - In your opinion, is Mossack Fonseca a singular case of a corporate service provider specialising to such a huge extent on shell companies or are there more and possibly many companies with similar business models? Can you name companies for which you have reasons to suspect that they engage in activities similar in type and scope? Mossack Fonseca is only one of several big players in the offshore-world. Although the lawfirm has shown astonishing unscrupulous behaviour there are other companies offering the same services and behaving, at least that’s what he hear from sources, in a similar unlawful way as Mossack Fonseca. - Mossack Fonseca is at the centre of the Panama papers. What was its role in setting up shell companies? What was the role of banks and financial intermediaries that worked with Mossack Fonseca? Which conclusions would you draw on the role of - on the one hand- advisors and - on the other hand- banks? Along with lawyers, asset managers and accounting firms, banks are the biggest players in the offshore business. Very few people contact firms such as Mossfon directly. It is usually their bankers or lawyers who take care of that part. They grease the wheels of the offshore machine: they advise, order and manage. Even for blatant tax evaders, and often, as the Panama papers show, knowingly. The data contains countless examples of advisers explicitly telling Mossack Fonseca, during meetings in random hotel lobbies or at their offices, for example, that their clients have tax problems. Naturally, these conversations took place behind closed doors. It is mainly large financial institutions that send money around the globe – the major US banks, but German banks are pretty good at this business too. Even state-owned banks or banks just saved with state-money help clients to cheat the state. - In your views, on the basis of this should the regulations on tax advisors and auditors be strengthened? Should the regulations on banks and financial intermediaries be strengthened? If yes, do you have suggestions on how this be done? According to you are the rules in place sufficient? Would you think there is a problem in the implementation or law enforcement? The rules are not sufficient, and where they are, they are not duly applied. We need more control, a public register of Beneficial Owners, a strict handled automatic exchange of tax data, stronger rules for banks, and a new mentality. Because the problem is not only the illegal stuff, the sanctions breaking, drug dealing, arms smuggling. The problem is, as Barack Obama said in May referring to the Panama Papers, “that a lot of this stuff is legal, not illegal.”We have to rethink if we really accept that there’s a one set of rules in our societies for the simple people – and a second one for the superrich. Even EU countries are a part of this problem, as we all know, look at Malta, at Luxembourg, at Ireland. And we need more resources for law enforcement. We know of many cases in which tax authorities didn’t act as they could have, because of a lack of manpower. Role of the Commission and EU Member States - Would you say that some member states devote significantly less resources to enforcing AML legislation and detecting money laundering or tax evasion activities than other member states (relative to the size of their financial sector)? We can only speak for Germany as this is my field of expertise and what we do see hear is chronically under resourced tax-investigators. - In your views, did the Panama papers reveal any shortcomings in the implementation or application of EU law in relation to money laundering, taxation, banking regulation or with respect to the regulation on some professions (auditors, financial intermediaries,)? The most discussed EU law was the European Savings Directive, which many banks helped to circumvent by using Offshore Companies. The biggest problem is more, as said, that law enforcement only has limited resources. - Would you consider that some EU Member States even turn a blind eye to such behaviour, e.g. to promote/raise the attractiveness of their financial centres or protect their own financial industry? Of course. Without going into details we can say that Malta is a bigger problem, as well as Luxemburg, for example. But we are not specialists on other countries. But also Germany has many issues, we don’t have a public accessible land register, for example. So nobody can really tell what happens in our real estate market. And Germany still allows anonymous shares, which is another problem. - As far as you are aware of it, do you see that EU and national legislators do recognise this lack of enforcement, and their willingness to act upon this, following your revelations? We will see. Until now we heard many promises. But the lobby of the financial world has a lot of power… - The current AML legislation in place in the EU (and worldwide via FATF standard) already require ‘obliged entities’ (usually, but not exclusively banks/ financial institutions) identify the ultimate beneficial owner, and make this information available to competent authorities and financial intelligence units (FIUs). Clearly your revelations in the Panama papers demonstrate that some financial institutions and other intermediaries have not only not met this obligation, but some have actively helped to conceal this information from competent authorities/ FIUs.
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