‘Next Revolution Will be Digitised’: Panama Papers Whistleblower

The whistleblower behind the Panama Papers leak has spoken for the first time.

Around 11.5m documents from Mossack Fonseca containing information of the beneficial owners of offshore companies, passport copies, and emails making it the biggest leak in history. (Photo: iStockphoto)

The whistleblower behind the Panama Papers leak broke his silence, on Friday and spoke about what led to the biggest data leak.

Although Mossack Fonseca and most of its clients continue to deny any illegal, the source who goes by the pseudonym of John Doe wrote that the 11.5 m documents were leaked only after understanding “the scale of injustices.”

The whistleblower whose gender and identity is still a mystery wrote about how repeated requests to investigate Mossack Fonseca had fallen to deaf ears.

The source had provided an investigative journalist with German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung leaked documents from Mossack Fonseca which included details of the beneficial owners of offshore companies, passport copies, and emails.

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In a letter, the John Doe wrote:

Income inequality is one of the defining issues of our time...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 source also said the Edward Snowden, who is the whistleblower behind the NSA leak should be rewarded instead of being banished and noted how other whistleblowers like Antoine Deltour who was behind the LuxLeaks have faced punishment.

Mossack Fonseca did not work in a vacuum. Despite repeated fines and documented regulatory violations, it found allies and clients at major law firms in virtually every nation.

John Doe

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John Doe concluded on a positive note calling the leak an act of revolution.

Historians can easily recount how issues involving taxation and imbalances of power have led to revolutions in ages past. Then, military might was necessary to subjugate peoples, whereas now, curtailing information access is just as effective or more so, since the act is often invisible. Yet we live in a time of inexpensive, limitless digital storage and fast internet connections that transcend national boundaries. It doesn’t take much to connect the dots: from start to finish, inception to global media distribution, the next revolution will be digitized. Or perhaps it has already begun

Read The Indian Express for the full story.

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