0:00:01.580,0:00:05.261
[On April 3, 2016 we saw[br]the largest data leak in history.]

0:00:06.061,0:00:08.892
[The Panama Papers exposed[br]rich and powerful people]

0:00:08.932,0:00:11.382
[hiding vast amounts of money[br]in offshore accounts.]

0:00:11.828,0:00:14.338
[What does this mean?]

0:00:15.312,0:00:18.212
[We called Robert Palmer[br]of Global Witness to explain.]

0:00:20.852,0:00:25.804
This week, there have been[br]a whole slew and deluge of stories

0:00:25.828,0:00:29.124
coming out from the leak[br]of 11 million documents

0:00:29.148,0:00:33.572
from a Panamanian-based law firm[br]called Mossack Fonseca.

0:00:33.596,0:00:39.378
The release of these papers from Panama[br]lifts the veil on a tiny piece

0:00:39.402,0:00:41.640
of the secretive offshore world.

0:00:41.664,0:00:46.972
We get an insight into how clients[br]and banks and lawyers

0:00:46.996,0:00:49.024
go to companies like Mossack Fonseca

0:00:49.048,0:00:51.555
and say, "OK, we want[br]an anonymous company,

0:00:51.579,0:00:52.971
can you give us one?"

0:00:52.995,0:00:54.805
So you actually get to see the emails,

0:00:54.829,0:00:56.792
you get to see the exchanges of messages,

0:00:56.816,0:00:59.891
you get to see the mechanics[br]of how this works,

0:00:59.915,0:01:01.316
how this operates.

0:01:01.340,0:01:05.393
Now, this has already started[br]to have pretty immediate repercussions.

0:01:05.417,0:01:08.018
The Prime Minister[br]of Iceland has resigned.

0:01:08.042,0:01:09.257
We've also had news

0:01:09.281,0:01:14.324
that an ally of the brutal[br]Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad

0:01:14.348,0:01:16.903
has also got offshore companies.

0:01:16.927,0:01:22.156
There's been allegations[br]of a $2 billion money trail

0:01:22.180,0:01:26.083
that leads back to President[br]Vladimir Putin of Russia

0:01:26.107,0:01:28.568
via his close childhood friend,

0:01:28.592,0:01:30.820
who happens to be a top cellist.

0:01:30.844,0:01:33.444
And there will be a lot[br]of rich individuals out there

0:01:33.468,0:01:37.786
and others who will be nervous[br]about the next set of stories

0:01:37.810,0:01:40.363
and the next set of leaked documents.

0:01:40.387,0:01:44.573
Now, this sounds like the plot[br]of a spy thriller

0:01:44.597,0:01:46.260
or a John Grisham novel.

0:01:46.284,0:01:50.300
It seems very distant[br]from you, me, ordinary people.

0:01:50.324,0:01:52.832
Why should we care about this?

0:01:52.856,0:01:57.099
But the truth is that if rich[br]and powerful individuals

0:01:57.123,0:01:59.777
are able to keep their money offshore

0:01:59.801,0:02:02.288
and not pay the taxes that they should,

0:02:02.312,0:02:06.406
it means that there is less money[br]for vital public services

0:02:06.430,0:02:09.783
like healthcare, education, roads.

0:02:09.807,0:02:12.128
And that affects all of us.

0:02:12.152,0:02:14.868
Now, for my organization Global Witness,

0:02:14.892,0:02:18.954
this exposé has been phenomenal.

0:02:18.978,0:02:23.466
We have the world's media[br]and political leaders

0:02:23.490,0:02:28.145
talking about how individuals[br]can use offshore secrecy

0:02:28.169,0:02:30.564
to hide and disguise their assets --

0:02:30.588,0:02:35.372
something we have been talking about[br]and exposing for a decade.

0:02:35.396,0:02:40.031
Now, I think a lot of people find[br]this entire world baffling and confusing,

0:02:40.055,0:02:44.520
and hard to understand how[br]this sort of offshore world works.

0:02:44.544,0:02:47.376
I like to think of it a bit[br]like a Russian doll.

0:02:47.400,0:02:50.859
So you can have one company[br]stacked inside another company,

0:02:50.883,0:02:52.994
stacked inside another company,

0:02:53.018,0:02:57.429
making it almost impossible[br]to really understand

0:02:57.453,0:02:59.680
who is behind these structures.

0:02:59.704,0:03:02.617
It can be very difficult[br]for law enforcement

0:03:02.641,0:03:05.604
or tax authorities,[br]journalists, civil society

0:03:05.628,0:03:07.890
to really understand what's going on.

0:03:08.318,0:03:09.755
I also think it's interesting

0:03:09.779,0:03:12.986
that there's been less coverage[br]of this issue in the United States.

0:03:13.010,0:03:16.773
And that's perhaps because[br]some prominent US people

0:03:16.797,0:03:21.335
just haven't figured[br]in this exposé, in this scandal.

0:03:21.359,0:03:25.294
Now, that's not because[br]there are no rich Americans

0:03:25.318,0:03:28.128
who are stashing their assets offshore.

0:03:28.152,0:03:31.974
It's just because of the way[br]in which offshore works,

0:03:31.998,0:03:35.488
Mossack Fonseca has fewer[br]American clients.

0:03:35.512,0:03:38.768
I think if we saw leaks[br]from the Cayman Islands

0:03:38.792,0:03:42.443
or even from Delaware[br]or Wyoming or Nevada,

0:03:42.467,0:03:48.259
you would see many more cases[br]and examples linking back to Americans.

0:03:48.283,0:03:54.201
In fact, in a number of US states[br]you need less information,

0:03:54.225,0:03:58.399
you need to provide less[br]information to get a company

0:03:58.423,0:04:01.216
than you do to get a library card.

0:04:01.240,0:04:07.022
That sort of secrecy in America[br]has allowed employees of school districts

0:04:07.046,0:04:08.952
to rip off schoolchildren.

0:04:08.976,0:04:13.872
It has allowed scammers[br]to rip off vulnerable investors.

0:04:14.452,0:04:18.142
This is the sort of behavior[br]that affects all of us.

0:04:18.166,0:04:20.037
Now, at Global Witness,

0:04:20.061,0:04:23.322
we wanted to see what this[br]actually looked like in practice.

0:04:23.346,0:04:25.759
How does this actually work?

0:04:25.783,0:04:26.958
So what we did

0:04:26.982,0:04:33.219
is we sent in an undercover investigator[br]to 13 Manhattan law firms.

0:04:33.763,0:04:37.537
Our investigator posed[br]as an African minister

0:04:37.561,0:04:41.688
who wanted to move suspect funds[br]into the United States

0:04:41.712,0:04:44.851
to buy a house, a yacht, a jet.

0:04:45.288,0:04:50.349
Now, what was truly shocking[br]was that all but one of those lawyers

0:04:50.373,0:04:54.966
provided our investigator with suggestions

0:04:54.990,0:04:56.954
on how to move those suspect funds.

0:04:56.978,0:04:58.790
These were all preliminary meetings,

0:04:58.814,0:05:01.086
and none of the lawyers[br]took us on as a client

0:05:01.110,0:05:03.399
and of course no money moved hands,

0:05:03.423,0:05:06.881
but it really shows the problem[br]with the system.

0:05:06.905,0:05:08.824
It's also important

0:05:08.848,0:05:12.214
to not just think about this[br]as individual cases.

0:05:12.238,0:05:14.451
This is not just about[br]an individual lawyer

0:05:14.475,0:05:18.329
who's spoken to our undercover[br]investigator and provided suggestions.

0:05:18.353,0:05:21.208
It's not just about[br]a particular senior politician

0:05:21.232,0:05:22.861
who's been caught up in a scandal.

0:05:22.885,0:05:25.941
This is about how a system works,

0:05:25.965,0:05:31.908
that entrenches corruption,[br]tax evasion, poverty and instability.

0:05:31.932,0:05:33.747
And in order to tackle this,

0:05:33.771,0:05:35.442
we need to change the game.

0:05:35.466,0:05:37.988
We need to change the rules of the game

0:05:38.012,0:05:40.004
to make this sort of behavior harder.

0:05:40.028,0:05:42.972
This may seem like doom and gloom,

0:05:42.996,0:05:44.917
like there's nothing we can do about it,

0:05:44.941,0:05:46.571
like nothing has ever changed,

0:05:46.595,0:05:49.931
like there will always be rich[br]and powerful individuals.

0:05:49.955,0:05:52.402
But as a natural optimist,

0:05:52.426,0:05:55.904
I do see that we are starting[br]to get some change.

0:05:55.928,0:05:57.803
Over the last couple of years,

0:05:57.827,0:06:01.495
we've seen a real push towards[br]greater transparency

0:06:01.519,0:06:03.353
when it comes to company ownership.

0:06:03.755,0:06:06.092
This issue was put on the political agenda

0:06:06.116,0:06:08.610
by the UK Prime Minister David Cameron

0:06:08.634,0:06:13.394
at a big G8 Summit that was held[br]in Northern Ireland in 2013.

0:06:13.872,0:06:18.222
And since then, the European Union[br]is going to be creating

0:06:18.246,0:06:20.403
central registers at a national level

0:06:20.427,0:06:23.834
of who really owns and controls[br]companies across Europe.

0:06:23.858,0:06:28.537
One of the things that is sad is that,[br]actually, the US is lagging behind.

0:06:28.958,0:06:31.658
There's bipartisan legislation[br]that had been introduced

0:06:31.682,0:06:33.585
in the House and the Senate,

0:06:33.609,0:06:36.766
but it isn't making as much progress[br]as we'd like to see.

0:06:36.790,0:06:39.877
So we'd really want to see[br]the Panama leaks,

0:06:39.901,0:06:43.695
this huge peek into the offshore world,

0:06:43.719,0:06:48.771
be used as a way of opening up[br]in the US and around the world.

0:06:48.795,0:06:53.585
For us at Global Witness,[br]this is a moment for change.

0:06:53.950,0:06:57.698
We need ordinary people to get angry

0:06:57.722,0:07:00.975
at the way in which people[br]can hide their identity

0:07:00.999,0:07:02.912
behind secret companies.

0:07:02.936,0:07:06.523
We need business leaders[br]to stand up and say,

0:07:06.547,0:07:09.831
"Secrecy like this is not[br]good for business."

0:07:09.855,0:07:14.235
We need political leaders[br]to recognize the problem,

0:07:14.259,0:07:19.266
and to commit to changing the law[br]to open up this sort of secrecy.

0:07:19.639,0:07:22.918
Together, we can end the secrecy

0:07:22.942,0:07:25.999
that is currently allowing tax evasion,

0:07:26.023,0:07:29.214
corruption, money laundering to flourish.