Panama Papers a year later: Where are they now?
It was a year ago that the Panama Papers were released by the International Consortium of Investigate Journalists, rocking the world with revelations involving prominent businessmen and politicians.
The 11.5 million documents detail financial information regarding more than 200,000 offshore entities, and led to the arrest of Jurgen Mossack and Ramon Fonseca, the directors of the now notorious Mossack Fonseca firm, a Panamanian company.
Malta was not untouched by the scandal, with the most prominent name mentioned being that of then Energy and Health Minister Konrad Mizzi, quickly followed by that of the OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri.
Both still hold firm to their position, although Dr Mizzi is now a Minister without Portfolio – but still responsible for projects related to energy – while Mr Schembri has remained exactly where he was last year.
In spite of calls for their removal, including national protests held by the Nationalist Party, Prime Minister Joseph Muscat has chosen to defend both Dr Mizzi and Mr Schembri. The Panama Papers revelations have also pushed the European Parliament to set up what is known as the PANA Committee, which was in Malta last February to investigate. Dr Mizzi turned up for the appointment, but Mr Schembri refused to be asked questions, claiming he is not an elected official.
In the 12 months since the Panama Papers published, ICIJ has continued investigating the massive dataset at the project’s core. “We’ve added more than 100 additional reporters, mostly from countries where we hadn’t worked previously, to take the overall number of collaborators well beyond 500 journalists. The work of ICIJ and its many global partners has gone on to be honoured with prizes or shortlisted for dozens of international awards, and journalists continue producing new investigative stories based on Panama Papers data on a regular basis.”
The ICIJ, of which The Malta Independent is an official partner, today published an article to give a “globe-hopping” update of what has happened since the Panama Papers revelations last year. The full article can be found on
www.independent.com.mt