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That article is bullshit. Yes, we can't access the raw data - true, but understandable. The editor in-chief of the SZ says they are still working on it and will
by Quanttek 11y ago
That article is bullshit. Yes, we can't access the raw data - true, but understandable. The editor in-chief of the SZ says they are still working on it and will expose more and more "in waves", often getting statements from the accused before or sharing it with law enforcement agencies. And no, they didn't focus on Russia or Assad, one of the main revelations was that three members of Iceland's government (PM, financial, interior) have offshore accounts. And the scandal was, that the PM bailed out banks he had personal investments in. so no, "corporate media" isn't ignoring "the west". Also, as published pretty much everywhere, a number of heads of state had offshore accounts, many allies of "the west":
Mauricio Macri, president or Argentina.
Bidzina Ivanishvill. ex PM of Georgia
Sigmundur something something, PM of Iceland.
Ayad H. Allawi, ex PM of Iraq.
Ali Abu-Ragheb, ex PM of Jordan.
Hamad Jasim J.M. Al-Thani, ex PM of Qatar.
Sheik Al-Thani, Emir of Qatar.
HRH Prince Salman, King of Saudi Arabia
Ahmad Al-Nirghani, ex-president of Sudan
Sultan Al-Nahyan, president of the UAE.
Pavlo Lazarenko, ex-PM of Ukraine.
Petro Poroshenko, president of Ukraine.
Also pretty much every major german bank is on the list, as published widely, and new evidence in the Siemens scandal came to light. Non-germans didn't get fully published yet, because the journalists give them the chance to respond to the accusations (having an offshore account isn't illegal by itself, but is often used to hide the identitiy of the owner to do illegal things).
To think, that for a database of 2.6tb, that data can just be made public and seeded (see main HN thread) is absurd. Source confidentiality and all
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- jonesb6 11y agoAlso wasn't this a law firm whose data was leaked? A lot of that information is probably financial and personal records which would be massively irresponsible, not to mention highly illegal, to release in a dump.
- brown9-2 11y agoA law firm whose sole business is establishing companies on paper in tax havens, so not quite your average firm.
- Quanttek 11y agoWith over 200000 shell companies created, you can be pretty sure not every shell company is involved in illegal activity. In fact, it's perfectly legal to create them, though the majority of their use cases is illegal. That still doesn't mean you can just dump private information like that on the internet
- jensen123 11y ago> the majority of their use cases is illegal. Is there any evidence for this, like any studies that have been done? Or are you just propagating a myth here?
- lumberjack 11y ago>That article is bullshit. I found the article useful actually. I mistakenly assumed, very naively, that these people handling the leaks were wikileaks kind of people and not these other kind of people: >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)
- ArnoldP 11y agoYeah that was some information that was missing earlier.
- Quanttek 11y agoThe thing is, it's just a network. It's not an institution by itself doing all the work, just a platform for investigative journalists from different outlets to work together. Do you think that Hotel owner in Bavaria was, just because he organized the stay of the head of states, able to influence or even steer, as accused here, the conversation of the G8 group? The idea seems laughable. I mean the criticism would probably be kinda useful and interesting to consider, would it have been published after the participating journalists said "that was it. That's all we got", but no, the publification of the leak just started and you can be sure, as confirmed by SZ, there's more to come. Most western countries have been implicated (https://twitter.com/thereaIbanksy/status/716740923615350784 https://twitter.com/thereaIbanksy/status/716740923615350784) and the db will be made searchable next month. Also, most of the Wikipedia page on criticism of the Center for Public Integrity is filled with accusation of being "liberal biased" and being "anti-Koch brothers"
- BogusIKnow 11y agoIf you quote these, then why not the more completly: "CPI reports receiving foundation support from a number of foundations, including the Sunlight Foundation, the Ethics and Excellence in Journalism Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Omidyar Network, the Open Society Foundation, and the Pew Charitable Trusts.[31] The Barbra Streisand Foundation reports that it has funded CPI." -Wikipedia And from their website: "Recent ICIJ funders include: Adessium Foundation, Open Society Foundations, The Sigrid Rausing Trust, the Fritt Ord Foundation, the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, The Ford Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts and Waterloo Foundation." From the reporting: - Fat Cat Hotel: How Democratic High-Rollers Are Rewarded with Overnight Stays at the White House. - Windfalls of War, a report arguing that campaign contributions to George W. Bush affected the allocation of reconstruction contracts in Afghanistan and Iraq - CPI's report, Who’s Behind the Financial Meltdown?,[45] looking at the roots of the global financial crisis - Tobacco Underground, an ongoing project tracing the global trade in smuggled cigarettes (All from Wikipedia)
- p4wnc6 11y agoThe article mentions the Iceland info and characterizes it as a "token" revelation meant exactly to keep people obfuscated and arguing about whether the leak did or did not implicate wealthy Western elites. I agree with the article. The leaks about Iceland and South America clearly do not count as major investigative reporting on western involvement. When U.S. officials, celebrities, and financiers start getting named, since there is literally no doubt they have been involved in this in illegal ways, then I'll believe they aren't holding back to protect Western interests. Until then, the article is absolutely on point with its criticism.
- chvid 11y agoSure 2.6 TB is a lot of data. Probably had to be handed over in person rather than via some anonymous website. Also not easy to distribute in unprocessed form. But I think this suspicion is very called for. After all the law firm had offices in many "non-corrupt" European countries not on list of leaks: http://www.mossfon.com/contact-our-offices/ http://www.mossfon.com/contact-our-offices/ (For some reason there are no offices in the US on this list; eventhough many reports say that this firm is also big in the US?) Yet it is just the usual suspects ...
- dbcooper 11y agoStandby for Australian news too ... Panama Papers: Tax office investigating 800 Australians identified in financial record leak >You can watch 'The Secrets of the Super Rich' on Four Corners on ABC TV at 8.30pm tonight. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-04/tax-office-investigating-800-australians-in-panama-papers-leak/7296512 http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-04-04/tax-office-investigati...
- lucb1e 11y agoI thought you were joking since Australia gets in the news for surveillance laws and stuff. Then I saw the link.
- synchronise 11y agoMakes me wonder if any current serving Australian politicians are gonna get caught up in this. I've got my popcorn ready regardless.
- jarcane 11y agoDude, you literally just proved his point: 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. So far the revelations have indeed been "enemies of the West", ie. Russia, etc., Iceland, and some ancient Tory MPs and David Cameron's dead father. Seems to me he called it pretty on the nose.
- deepnet 11y agoIf Putin's childhood friend implicates him surely David Cameron's father implicates David Cameron ? He has inherited the Blairmore profits amongst the very considerable estate. Questions ought to be asked in parliament. http://boingboing.net/2016/04/04/panama-papers-reveal-the-tax-a.html http://boingboing.net/2016/04/04/panama-papers-reveal-the-ta...
- deleted 11y ago[deleted]
- Cypher 11y agoThey should provide a torrent, with only 2 Chinese reporters having access and bashing the wives of the Chinese leaders is perceived as a poor western propaganda.
- Cypher 11y agoThey should provide a torrent, with only 2 Chinese reporters having access and bashing the wives of the Chinese leaders is perceived as a poor western propaganda.