LONDON – The whistleblower behind the Panama Papers finally came forward with the explanation of how the offshore tax injustices drove them towards highly sensitive data leaks, according to a leading British newspaper.
The source did not disclose his identity but denied being a spy. “For the record, I do not work for any government or intelligence agency, directly or as a contractor, and I never have. My viewpoint is entirely my own.” According to him, the leak of 11.5m documents from the Panaminian law firm Mossack Fonseca triggered a global debate last month after an international consortium of newspapers published a series of stories.
The source also said that shell companies were often associated with the crime of tax evasion. “But the Panama Papers show beyond a shadow of a doubt that although shell companies are not illegal, by definition they are used to carry out a wide array of serious crimes. Income inequality is one of the defining issues of our time.” The source also added, “The prevailing media narrative thus far has focused on the scandal of what is allowed and legal in this system. What is allowed is indeed scandalous and must be changed.”
The documents leaked by the source included details of the beneficial owners of offshore companies, passport copies, and emails. The newspaper shared the material with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) in Washington. In one of the biggest collaborations in journalistic history, the ICIJ gave access to the data to 100 media organisations, in 83 countries, which spent a year investigating them.The source said they decided to act after understanding the scale of the injustices, the documents described.
Since the publication of the papers last month, governments and law enforcement agencies have sought access to the files. The ICIJ had “rightly” declined to help, but the source has shown agreement to cooperate law enforcement agencies to the extent that they can. The source notably said that they originally offered the documents to “several major media outlets”. According to the source, editors reviewed the Panama Papers but in the end “chose not to cover them”. No detail has been provided on which media houses were offered this material. The anonymous whistleblower also approached WikiLeaks. “Even WikiLeaks didn’t answer its tip line repeatedly. The media has failed,” he said.
The source also talked about the treatment given to whistleblowers and that it is unfair. The source said “For his revelations about the NSA, he [Snowden] deserves a hero’s welcome and a substantial prize, not banishment.” He also mentioned other whistleblowers who have faced punishment for their actions including Antoine Deltour. Deltour is on trial for revealing how Luxembourg secretly sanctioned massive, aggressive cross-border tax avoidance by multinational corporations.
The whistleblower was generally underwhelmed by official reaction to the leak but concluded on an optimistic note. He said that in an age of “inexpensive, limitless digital storage” and internet connections that transcend national boundaries the next revolution will be digitized, “or perhaps it has already begun.”
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