INTERNATIONAL SATURDAY, APRIL 9, 2016 German journalists ‘surprised’ by impact of Panama Papers MUNICH: The two German journalists of the Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily behind the Panama Papers revelations say they are surprised by the global shockwaves the leak caused and prom- ised more sensational disclosures. “I never imagined there would be such a reaction, that it would be on every television channel and that we would receive media requests from all around the world,” one of the reporters, Bastian Obermayer, 38, told AFP. Germany’s second-biggest daily in sales, the Sueddeutsche received from an anonymous source more than 11 million documents of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca that cast a harsh spotlight on the shady finan- cial dealings of many of the world’s rich and powerful. The liberal daily shared the massive leak with a consortium of hundreds of international investigative journalists who have mined the mountains of data for more than a year. Since Sunday, the revelations have brought down Iceland’s prime minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, forced the resignation of a sen- ior UEFA official and raised the heat on British Prime Minister David Cameron and Argentine President Mauricio Macri. “We are still in the middle of the revelations,” said the other journalist, who has a confusingly similar surname, Frederik Obermaier, 32, speaking at the newspaper’s headquarters in Munich. “In the coming days, there will be more topics that will make big headlines in many countries.” LESBOS: Activists in the sea try to interfere the deportation of Pakistani migrants on board a ferry set to sail for Turkey ‘Destroy the system’ in the port of Mytilini yesterday. — AP In the mass leak, “we are seeing the most different types crimes, we see how the drug cartels launder money, that arms merchants are implicated, that sanctions are being circumvented, Greece resumes migrant we are seeing tax fraud,” said Obermayer. “If politicians really want to stop it, they must act now.” “We really need a hammer to destroy the system of offshore companies,” he added, arguing that “the policy of small steps is not enough”. The data showed deportations to Turkey that, as national governments take steps against tax cheats, “they adapt, they find new ideas” to divert and hide their money, he said. His colleague, Frederik Obermaier, was more reserved: “I After a four-day pause think there is a lot of talk, but what will be done in the end is a different thing.” The reporters said they don’t know the name of DIKILI: Amid protests, Greece yesterday police deployed in Dikili. The official, who on the island of Chios overnight, where the source at the origin of the scoop, and that they received the resumed deportations of refugees and spoke on condition of anonymity because scores of migrants had been camped out data on offshore companies “more than one year ago”. “I do not migrants from its islands to Turkey after a he was not authorized to speak to the for a week after pushing their way out of a know if it’s a man or a woman, or a group. I don’t know the identi- four-day pause, sending back 124 people press, said that they had expected to detention camp. Police scuffled with ty of this person,” said Obermaier, adding however that “we have on two boats from Lesbos to a Turkish receive 2,050 migrants yesterday. groups Greek protesters staging rival become a bit more familiar over the year” with the leaker. port. He said those returned yesterday were demonstrations in support of and in oppo- At pains to protect their source, the journalists also declined The EU-Turkey deal, which aims to primarily Afghan and Pakistani nationals. sition to the migrants. to reveal whether the person had been in contact again or had deter illegal migration, has faced several There were also four Iraqis and one each The human rights group Amnesty reacted to the international reverberations. setbacks and mounting criticism in its first from Egypt, Morocco, Bangladesh and the International, which interviewed dozens of But they were clear on the source’s “moral” motivation, that week of implementation. Earlier this week, Palestinian Territories. All are to be detainees on Chios and Lesbos, said peo- the person “wants these crimes to be made public”. “Our source 202 migrants were sent back to Turkey. processed for deportation within two ple were being held “arbitrarily in has obviously seen a lot of this data and thought it had to be Before the first boat left Lesbos yester- weeks. appalling conditions.” “A setup that is so published,” said Obermaier, while his colleague stressed that the day, four activists jumped into the sea to Returns from Greece to Turkey are flawed, rushed and ill-prepared is ripe for source “wants Mossack Fonseca to cease operations”. try to obstruct the operation - swimming expected to resume next week, according mistakes, trampling the rights and well- to the front of the chartered ferry and to the Turkish official. On Greek islands, being of some of the most vulnerable peo- ‘Future of journalism’ grabbing the anchor chain - and were protests continued at overcrowded deten- ple,” said Gauri van Gulik, Amnesty’s It was Bastian Obermayer who received the first contact from detained by the coast guard. The second tion camps. Police cleared the main port deputy Europe director. — AP the anonymous source, offering the explosive information. On boat made the journey without incident. the choice of Sueddeutsche, “we can only speculate on the rea- Officers from the European Union’s sons why we were contacted”, he said. Founded in Munich after border protection agency escorted the Kosovo opposition tries to World War II, the broadsheet is considered one of Germany’s migrants to the boats. In the Turkish port major newspapers of record, along with the conservative disrupt president’s inauguration of Dikili, health and migration officials Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, and is number two in sales after checked the passengers amid heavy secu- tabloid-style Bild. —AFP PRISTINA: Opposition supporters in there. Police detained around half a dozen rity. The migrants were then whisked onto Kosovo launched tear gas Friday to try to opposition supporters while the others police-escorted buses heading to a depor- disrupt the inauguration ceremony for were pushed away. The main opposition tation center in Kirklareli, near the border the country’s new president, Hashim Self-Determination Movement Party took with Bulgaria. Thaci. Canisters were launched before responsibility for throwing the tear gas, Some 4,000 migrants and refugees the start of the ceremony at Pristina’s broadcasting a short movie of the action who reached Greek islands from nearby main Skenderbeg Square, but it later in its Facebook site. Turkey after March 20 are being held in continued normally. “Hashim Thaci is not and will never be detention camps to be screened for The opposition has been disrupting the president of the Republic of Kosovo,” deportation. The returns have been held parliamentary sessions in Kosovo since they said. “We shall not recognize and up by delays in processing asylum claims last September to protest a deal between accept him as the president of our by overwhelmed Greek authorities who Kosovo and Serbia that gives more pow- Republic. We shall continuously and are also preparing to deal with applica- ers to ethnic Serbs in Kosovo and another without compromise oppose him. As we tions across the country by some 50,000 on a border demarcation pact with did today!” Thaci, 47, assumed his post migrants and refugees promised places in Montenegro. Thursday in a swearing-in ceremony at a slow-moving EU relocation scheme. Those who threw the canisters Friday the Parliament. The opposition boy- were scattered in small groups surround- cotted that, as well as the vote Feb. 26, Preparations ing the chairs for the guests. The incident which it also tried to disrupt with tear A Turkish official said his country was occurred just before the main guests gas. Its later request to void the voting MUNICH: German journalist Frederik Obermaier co-author prepared to receive higher numbers with would sit down at the first line of chairs, was turned down by the Constitutional of the so called “Panama Papers” investigation posing on an array of 1,000 professionals ranging although some diplomats were already Court. — AP Thursday at his office at the German daily. — AFP from doctors to migration officials and