Panama Papers: Database of names connected to offshore accounts revealed in leaked information from Mossack Fonseca goes live
A database containing over 300,000 names connected with offshore accounts has gone live on the internet this evening.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which initially reported on the Panama Papers in April, has launched a searchable database, accessible here. Users can search for specific names, or see lists of the companies and individuals linked to specific countries.
The data was leaked from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca, and was made public in early April, throwing a number of world leaders into public scrutiny, including Prime Minister David Cameron.
The ICIJ said the data "is the largest ever release of information about offshore companies and the people behind them".
The group also said it is "not publishing the totality of the leak, and it is not disclosing raw documents or personal information en masse".
The database doesn’t disclose bank accounts, email exchanges and financial transactions contained in the documents.
The ICIJ added: "While the interactive application opens up a world that has never been shown in this much detail, not every owner of a company that appears in the Panama Papers shows up in the public database. This is because ownership information is often buried in emails, power-of-attorney letters and internal notes of Mossack Fonseca employees and cannot easily be extracted in a systematic manner.
"In addition, Mossack Fonseca often failed to collect the necessary information about the ultimate owners of companies, relying instead on banks and other intermediaries to keep track of that essential data."
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