Asia

We’re getting close to 24 hours since the first reports based on the Panama Papers were published by news organisations around the world, so it’s time for a quick summary of reaction so far.

• Reports from 107 news organisations around the world have been chronicling information contained in a massive cache of files from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonesca. These were initially leaked to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.
• In the UK, the Guardian and the BBC have led reports on the 11.5m files, described as the biggest leak in history.
• A big element of the Guardian’s first-day coverage related to claims of great wealth swirling around Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, much of it connected to a close friend of his, Sergei Roldugin, a cellist.
• Russia’s government has dismissed the reports as unfounded and based on “Putinophobia”.
• Iceland’s prime minister faces a vote of no confidence after the files disclosed offshore holdings linked to him and his wife. He has said there is “nothing new” in the reports, but walked out of a TV interview when quizzed on it.
• British tax investigators have written to the Guardian and others, seeking the files so it can investigate possible offshore tax evasion.
• Downing Street has refused to comment on information in the files showing David Cameron’s father, Ian, used offshore techniques to avoid paying UK tax.
• Ukraine’s president, Petro Poroshenko, faces calls for investigationfrom MPs following allegations about his offshore dealings.
• Mossack Fonesca has said it cannot comment on individual cases, but says it is a “responsible member of the global financial and business community” and has broken no laws.
• Russia’s Kremlin-funded English language broadcaster, RT, has beenlooking at coverage of the Panama Papers, and it’s fair to say they take a somewhat different view to many. Their website headline reads:
  

  ‘Goebbels had less biased articles’: Public slams MSM [mainstream media] for Putin focus after Panama papers leak

  It’s fair to say the rest of the article continues in this vein.

• Another story from us which you might have missed amid the rush of revelations: how an officer at Samoa’s high commission in Australia reguarly assisted Mossack Fonseca in creating shell companies.
• The office of Diane Abbott, the shadow secretary of state for international development, has been in touch with some strongly-worded quotes from her about the revelations, which she says are part of a broader picture:
  

  We knew global corporations were avoiding tax, now the Panama Papers leaks have shown us that world leaders are at it too. But Panama is only the tip of the iceberg.

  Britain itself is the head of the world’s largest financial secrecy network, and is facilitating tax avoidance by refusing to make its overseas territories expose the names of the individuals and companies that are hiding their wealth there.

  Britain’s refusal to shut its tax havens also makes possible tax avoidance by global corporations and global leaders.

  This is a stitch-up. Meaningful reform of the tax system in the interest of the public is being prevented due to the interests of the world’s rich and powerful, who are making a killing. Those literally being killed from this cosy deal are the world’s poor.

  Every year around $200bn of untaxed income is taken out of poor countries by the international corporations operating on their territory. That is around 50% more than the total amount they receive in aid from rich counties.

  Over in Iceland, opposition MPs plan a motion of no confidenceagainst the prime minister, Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, who with his wife has alleged links to offshore holdings, and there will be a demonstration outside the country’s parliament.

  Gunnlaugsson himself, however, says he will not resign and that there is “nothing new” in the information from the Panama Papers. He did, however, apologise for a “poor” performance in a TVinterview in which h

  Some German reaction, via AFP. Martin Jaeger, a spokesman for the country’s finance ministry, said he hoped reports based on the leaked files would boost efforts to combat tax evasion and money laundering:

  We hope the current debate will turn up the heat. We can harness this momentum and express the hope that restrictions will be imposed.

  However, he added, such practices “cannot be abolished with a simple click of the fingers”.