Panama Papers investigation

There are two investigations: a journalistic consortium before 3 April 2016, and state inquiries after.

Neither is a manual for hiding money. Both are after-the-fact readings of a leaked archive.

Agencies

• Süddeutsche Zeitung + ICIJ partners — Received the cache, built the shared archive and published under embargo on 3 April 2016.
• National tax authorities — Opened audits and some criminal tax files after names appeared; results varied by country.
• Pakistan Supreme Court / NAB — The sharpest large-democracy court track, ending in Sharif's 2017 disqualification.
• Panamanian and European prosecutors — Examined the firm and some intermediaries; no single world verdict followed.

What followed

1. Receive and secure the cache

   Süddeutsche authenticated a sample and decided the store was too large and too global for one newsroom.

2. Build a consortium

   ICIJ invited partners, set an embargo and let local desks read local names against public records.

3. Publish on one clock

   3 April 2016 put governments in the position of responding to the same facts on the same morning.

4. Open national files

   Tax agencies and prosecutors decided, country by country, whether a name was a lead or a legal structure.

5. Litigate the hardest cases

   Pakistan's court track and assorted European files produced the mixed dock. Many names never entered a courtroom.

6. Watch the firm close

   Mossack Fonseca's 2018 shutdown ended a corporate chapter without ending every client inquiry.

Turning points

• Choosing a consortium — A shared archive made the leak a world story instead of a German exclusive.
• Iceland's resignation week — A prime minister's fall proved the files could move a government, not only a Sunday paper.
• Sharif's disqualification — A Supreme Court result showed that some aftershocks would be judicial, not only journalistic.

After the fact, reporters mapped a firm and states picked at the map. The world did not sit as one jury.

Public-record encyclopedia. Not legal advice. Not a how-to. Graphic detail is withheld. Wars belong in a separate atlas.

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