ICIJ sifted through thousands of emails, documents and images to find names that were in the public interest. The year-long investigation unveiled connections to companies in many different tax havens, their uses and their real owners, whose identities were sometimes hidden behind layers of secrecy. The investigation found more than 140 politicians and public officials connected to 55 countries. The names displayed in this interactive are a selection of the most relevant cases. All of them include political figures or people close enough to political figures that they should have triggered extra scrutiny. There are legitimate uses for offshore companies, and we do not intend to suggest or imply that any individuals or entities included in the interactive were in violation of the law.

The production of the profiles was complex and took several months. We combined a deep exploration of the Mossack Fonseca documents with research in worldwide public records such as company records, property records and assets declarations, among others. Purchasing real estate and yachts, holding bank accounts and keeping personal finances private were among the most common uses given for offshore companies. ICIJ reached out to all those in the interactive to give them a chance to comment. The answers we received are included in the profiles.

Mossack Fonseca told ICIJ that it conducts periodic follow-ups in the case of politically-exposed figures to assure that no negative results are found. The company said that for 40 years it has operated beyond reproach in its home country and in other jurisdictions where it has operations. "Our firm has never been accused or charged in connection with criminal wrongdoing", said a Mossack Fonseca public relations officer.

The Power Players is published in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and German. ICIJ media partners been allowed to select profiles they believe are of interest to their audiences which may result in similar interactives with fewer profiles. The information in the interactive is current as of April 3, 2016 and the offshore data up to December 2015. ICIJ will release the full list of companies and people in the Panama Paper files in early May.

For questions and tips connected to this interactive contact data@icij.org

Files

en.csv

Latest commit

History

en.csv

File metadata and controls