Too early to pass verdict. let probe conclude
Some high-profile and not so well-known Indian names figure in the so-called Panama Papers leaked to a consortium of journalists and carried by select publications across the world, including here. From the day these names came into the public domain, speculation has been rife about the ‘illegality' of these accounts. A few of the names mentioned have rejected the allegation saying the accounts are legitimate while a few others have expressed surprise at their names being mentioned. The Government has ordered a multi-agency investigation into the revelations; the Prime Minister, according to a media report, is personally following up the issue; the Union Minister for Finance has said that those who are in wrong will have ‘sleepless nights'; and Reserve Bank of India Governor has cautioned that not every Indian mentioned in the documents leaked need necessarily be having an illegal account. Therefore, one must wait for the outcome of the investigation. It is possible that some or many of them may not be above suspicion. Still, it will be wrong to pass judgement at this stage. The temptation to tar the reputation of people is there because of the very nature of these accounts and the place where they are held.
Revealed to the public last Sunday, the Panama Papers is a massive cache of 11.5 million records, about 2.6 terabytes of data, which was leaked from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamaian law firm that specialises in, among other things, setting up shell companies for foreigners seeking to conceal their assets. The documents go back 40 years and make up for the biggest leak in the history of investigative journalism. They were first released to the German newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung, by a source identified only as John Doe. Once Süddeutsche Zeitung realised the scale of the leak, it took the papers to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, a global network of investigative journalists, headquartered in Washington, DC. The ICIJ reached out to its media partners and, together, 400 journalists from 107 media organisations across 76 countries spent a year parsing through the documents. On April 3, they broke the story which named heads of Government, senior public officials, big business owners, famous actors and sportspersons.
The entire trove of documents is yet to be made public, but even before the full revelation, the Panama Papers have already begun to take their toll Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, for one, has resigned in the aftermath. He owned a shell company, Wintris, which held nearly four million dollar in bonds in three major Icelandic banks. When these banks collapsed during the 2008 financial crisis, Gunnlaugsson campaigned against bank bailouts. In 2009, he entered Parliament and sold Wintris to his wife for a dollar. In 2013, he was elected Prime Minister. Even though he was negotiating with the banks, he had failed to declare his interests in Wintris. The Panama Papers has not been without controversy though; some see the revelation as an American hit job on Russia, given that President Vladimir Putin is the most high-profile world leader on the list, which, incidentally, has no US name at all.