Russian political scientist Maria Snegovaya spoke with RFE/RL's Russian Service about how the Panama leaks could affect Russia.
"It is clear that these documents are not directed straight at Russians because Russians are hardly likely to find out about them -- the Kremlin-controlled media are not going to show them -- and even if Russians did find out, they would say: 'We already know that, but at least he gave us back Crimea.'
"This information is for the West, for organizations that investigate corruption mechanisms, and for Western leaders who know have clear proof of the Kremlin's corruption. I have no doubt that the State Department and other U.S. structures had this information earlier, but the value of these documents is that they give precise legal levers of influence over the Kremlin."
If you thought the fantasy land of Bollywood, at least, would not be tainted by the Panama papers leaks, you were wrong. Bollywood stars Amitabh and his daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai Bachchan are among the 500 Indian citizens whose names appear:
"The Express stated that, back in 1993, Bachchan was appointed director in at least four offshore shipping companies which were registered in tax havens. Three of these were registered in the Bahamas with another in the British Virgin Islands.
"According to the newspaper, "The authorized capital of these companies ranged between a modest $5,000-50,000 but they traded in ships worth millions of dollars."
"The newspaper also added that it had earlier attempted to solicit a response from the actor and his company AB Corporation, but did not get a response."
FYI, the Wikipedia page on the Panama papers leak and who is named. Handy quick reference, but, as always, use with caution.
Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela addressed the Panama papers scandals in a televised speech late on April 6. Here are some quotes:
"The Panamanian government, via our Foreign Ministry, will create an independent commission of domestic and international experts recognized for their experience to evaluate our current practices and propose an adoption of measures that we will share with other world countries to strengthen the transparency of the financial and legal systems. We will work not only internally in our country, but also we will direct efforts to benefit the rest of the world."
"I want to make clear that Panama will continue to cooperate with other jurisdictions -- as we have done judicially -- to prosecute crimes which have been identified in our criminal code, such as the exchange of information, to fulfill international treaties that have been ratified by Panama. We reaffirm our commitment as a serious country that respects international law and cooperation with the international community in search of solutions to this global problem."
African citizens are among the hardest-hit victims of the kinds of financial manipulations being uncovered by the Panama papers leak.
"Every year, Africa loses between $30 and $60 billion to illicit financial flows (pdf, p. 34), according to the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). A “major enabler” of these flows, UNECA says, are offshore tax havens like Panama, the British Virgin Islands, Seychelles, and other jurisdictions that happen to feature prominently in the “Panama Papers” leak."
Speaking in Addis Ababa on April 6, African Union Commission Chairwoman Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma called for the illegally off-shored money to "be sent back." She called for a global dialogue on bringing these resources back to the continent for "children's care, maternal care, and many social issues."
Political cartoon by St. Petersburg artist Viktor Bogorad about Putin's friend Sergei Roldugin, a little-known concert cellist who was revealed by the Panama papers to be worth $2 billion:
Pro-Kremlin political scientist Sergey Markov, who often appears on Western media to give the Russian government's interpretation of global events, has not ignored the Panama papers scandal. On April 5, he published the following analysis on Facebook:
"The prime minister of Iceland has resigned because of the accusations in the Panama dossier. Because in Ireland [sic] they have oligarchs, but also democracy. And the referendum in Scotland was real because Great Britain has democracy. And the United States has democracy. The Anglo-Saxons made democracy for themselves. Because for Anglo-Saxons, Anglo-Saxons are people of the first sort -- they have a right to democracy.
"But the thief Poroshenko will not go anywhere because in Ukraine there is no democracy, but a pro-American junta instead. Because for the Anglo-Saxons, the Russians in Ukraine are people of the second or third sort. They don't deserve democracy. Biden has not given them freedom of speech. Washington won't grant them federalism. The United States took federalism for itself, but forbids it to Ukraine. The Anglo-Saxons have stolen democracy from the Russians in Ukraine, saying that they would just use it to unite with Russia. Maidan was the turning point from an imperfect democracy to a terroristic, nationalistic dictatorship. And we Russians cannot agree with this racism.
"And in Russia, Putin will not resign because he, unlike Poroshenko, is not a thief and a traitor, but is an honest patriot of his country. The citizens of Russia trust Putin and want him to rule the country and defend it. He is ruling and defending it. This is called democracy, when the ruler does what the people want."
This LiveBlog could become a new full-time job. This graphic compares the sheer size of the Panama leak to previous "data dumps."
Great New York Times piece on the Panamanian law firm at the heart of the leaks and of all the money laundering that is being revealed.
"The partners had become very wealthy, and Mr. Fonseca leveraged the firm’s success to gain an influential role in the upper ranks of politics. He told associates that he wanted to clean up the government, serving as a special adviser to President Juan Carlos Varela until the corruption scandal in Brazil forced Mr. Fonseca to resign this year.
In an interview, he said that entering politics was, in part, a way of giving back. “I believe in sharing the pizza,” he wrote. “At least to give others one slice.”
And here is Fonseca's cynical prediction of how the Panama papers story will end up:
"'At the end of this storm the sky will be blue again and people will find that the only crime is the hacking' of the firm’s documents, he said in an hourlong interview conducted over the messaging platform WhatsApp."
Andrew Boff, a Conservative member of the London Assembly, has set a section of the Internet on fire with this controversial tweet about the Panama leaks scandal (worth clicking through and reading the comments):