MUNICH — Over a year ago, an anonymous source contacted Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) with the following exchange:
Hello. This is John Doe. Interested in data?
SZ: We’re very interested.
JD: There are a couple of conditions. My life is in danger. We will only chat over encrypted files. No meeting, ever. The choice of stories is obviously up to you.
SZ: Why are you doing this?
JD: I want to make these crimes public.
SZ: How much data are we talking about?
JD: More than anything you have ever seen.
The encrypted internal documents were from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm that sells anonymous offshore companies around the world. These shell companies enable their owners to cover up their business dealings, no matter how shady.
In the months that followed, the number of documents continued to grow far beyond the original leak. Ultimately, SZ acquired about 2.6 terabytes of data, making the leak the biggest that journalists had ever worked with. The source wanted neither financial compensation nor anything else in return, apart from a few security measures.
The data provides 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: from politicians, FIFA officials, fraudsters and drug smugglers, to celebrities and professional athletes.
A group effort
Headquartered in Munich, Süddeutsche Zeitung is one of Germany’s leading newspapers. SZ has a total readership of 4.4 million for its print and online media. Its investigative journalism team counts five people, three of whom are members of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Süddeutsche Zeitung has won a number of prestigious awards for its research work, and its team has cooperated with other media organizations on a number of projects, including Offshore Leaks, Swiss Leaks and Lux Leaks, which ICIJ coordinated. At the beginning of 2015, an anonymous source began sending Süddeutsche Zeitung data from Mossack Fonseca, a provider of offshore companies. This marked the beginning of the Panama Papers project.
*Süddeutsche Zeitung, in cooperation with the International Consortium for Investigative Journalists, sent Mossack Fonseca several written requests for comment. In response, the law firm sent two general statements, which can be viewed here.
