Panama Papers

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 03 Apr 2016, 21:24

Introduction:

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/ap ... ama-papers

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/ap ... t-offshore

http://www.theguardian.com/news/2016/ap ... evelations

http://www.theguardian.com/news/video/2 ... -explainer

johnhemming2 · Post by **johnhemming2** » 03 Apr 2016, 21:32

Its an interesting one.

2.6 terabytes of data there's a lot to look through.

Unless the Icelandic PM can come up with some really good explanation he is probably done for.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 03 Apr 2016, 21:34

He may just be the first casualty. This could go a long way. Follow this:

http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/panamapapers-107.html

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 03 Apr 2016, 21:47

Brush up your Icelandic:

http://kjarninn.is/frettir/2016-04-03-s ... i-11-mars/

More on Iceland:

http://panamapapers.sueddeutsche.de/art ... c3495adfc/

And the wider perspective:
http://www.irishtimes.com/business/econ ... -1.2595138

Little John · Post by **Little John** » 03 Apr 2016, 23:24

The one mistake this whistle blower made, it would seem, was thinking that he could entrust this information to the mainstream media. The Guardian is already spinning it into an anti-Putin story instead of focusing attention of the vast majority of where the rest of the money comes from.

https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives ... nama-leak/

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 03 Apr 2016, 23:36

http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/panamapapers-107.html

Ian Cameron, who died in 2010, is the father of British Prime Minister David Cameron. Born with severely deformed legs, he underwent multiple surgeries but managed to pursue amateur sports and made his fortune as a stockbroker and investor. He became senior partner in brokerage Panmure Gordon, as his father and grandfather had been before him.

Inside the Mossack Fonseca data Offshore investment firm highlighted to investors that it was managed to avoid taxes

Cameron helped create and develop Blairmore Holdings Inc. in Panama in 1982 and was involved in the investment fund until his 2010 death. Although Cameron didn't appear as director of Blairmore until 1989, a 2006 prospectus said he "was instrumental in the formation of Blairmore Holdings Inc. in the early 1980s." In July 1998, the fund was valued at nearly $20 million. Promotional literature noted the fund was “not liable to taxation on its income or capital gains” and that the fund "will not be subject to United Kingdom corporation tax or income tax on its profits." Blairmore used a large amount of bearer shares –unregistered shares that belong to anyone who physically holds the share certificates– until 2006.

Post by **kenneal - lagger** » 04 Apr 2016, 02:55

Now is a good time to ensure that the Kleptocracy are called what they should be and not insult any elite that might be confused with them.

PS_RalphW · Post by **PS_RalphW** » 04 Apr 2016, 07:29

It would be nice to think that this level of blatant corruption being exposed (always suspected but now beyond plausible deniability) it might lead the few honest world leaders to take on the system and bring the guilty to the fore, but I fear the corruption goes deep enough that it is enshrined in the system, and there are not enough honest brokers with the power to take on the kleptocracy (for want of a better word).

I suspect events and activities like the Bilderberg group have always been a smoke screen, like area 51, to put people off the scent and make them look like conspiracy nutjobs. There is no secret cabal running behind the scenes - the entire system is corrupt from the top down, all the way to the 1 percent.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 04 Apr 2016, 08:12

In Craig Murray's piece, I'm troubled by his line, "Never forget the Guardian smashed its copies of the Snowden files on the instruction of MI6."

They smashed a copy. Surely there can be nobody who believes that all copies were smashed?

johnhemming2 · Post by **johnhemming2** » 04 Apr 2016, 08:21

Little John wrote:The Guardian

http://order-order.com/2012/11/26/the-g ... s-company/

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 04 Apr 2016, 08:51

The data (as filtered by ICIJ):

https://panamapapers.icij.org/graphs/

UndercoverElephant · Post by **UndercoverElephant** » 04 Apr 2016, 10:22

biffvernon wrote:In Craig Murray's piece, I'm troubled by his line, "Never forget the Guardian smashed its copies of the Snowden files on the instruction of MI6."

They smashed a copy. Surely there can be nobody who believes that all copies were smashed?

As explained beforehand, I know some of the people directly involved. My wife was working for the Guardian at the time and personally knows one of the people reported to have smashed the Guardian's copies. What actually happened was that two people from the security services smashed up a load of computers, including mice and keyboards. The Guardian didn't smash anything at all.

And yes, presumably this was actually just a purely symbolic show of strength - a warning. Even if the Guardian didn't have copies stored elsewhere, Edward Snowden certainly does. The purpose of the smashing event was purely an attempt to intimidate the Guardian into not challenging those who hold the real power.

And it pretty much worked, IMO.

raspberry-blower · Post by **raspberry-blower** » 04 Apr 2016, 10:54

Little John wrote:The one mistake this whistle blower made, it would seem, was thinking that he could entrust this information to the mainstream media. The Guardian is already spinning it into an anti-Putin story instead of focusing attention of the vast majority of where the rest of the money comes from.

https://www.craigmurray.org.uk/archives ... nama-leak/

You'll like the instant response from Off-Guardian: Panama Papers cause Guardian to collapse into self-parody

…the president’s name does not appear in any of the records…

So there you go. The Guardian falls into self parody, pasting up a massive picture, a misleading headline and 5000 words (that Harding presumably copied from someone else), at the merest suggestion of a tenuous connection to the Russian president.

It’s a bit odd, really.

See also: Moon of Alabama: Selective Leaks of the Panama Papers creates huge blackmail potential

Pepperman · Post by **Pepperman** » 04 Apr 2016, 11:12

I find it strange that there's so much criticism for focusing on Putin. There is a spectacular amount of data here and we are less than 24h into this story. The Snowden trove ran for months and months and I expect this one will too.

Even if there is pressure being exerted on UK media there are more than 100 organisations in 80 countries with this data so I don't think anyone is safe from exposure.

biffvernon · Post by **biffvernon** » 04 Apr 2016, 11:33

And as Misha Glenny pointed out in his book McMafia about ten years ago (I'm reminded as he was on Radio 4 this morning) Russian money is an enormous fund sloshing about with Putin right at the centre so whether or not Craig Murray is right (and I do think he's worth taking seriously) there's justification for picking on Putin first. Actually it looks like the Icelandic prime-minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, (centre-right establishment) is likely to fall over first.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/ ... disclosure

Iceland finance minister, Bjarni Benediktsson, is also implicated. It's said he will not attend parliament today, blames US flight delays!