The Panama Papers will be published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) tonight (Hanoi time), as searchable data, like Google.
`You will see the companies and their official owners. This is information that has never been published. We believe that information about who owns these companies should be transparent,` Marina Walker Guevara –
According to ICIJ, the search engine will allow visitors to type in the name of an individual or company.
The search engine also compiled information from documents in the ICIJ’s 2013 investigation into how British citizens used accounts abroad.
Part of the Panama Papers will be published as searchable data.
Information about the Panama Papers was published in early April, with the participation of reporters in 76 countries, based on documents stolen from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.
The Panama Papers helped reveal a huge network of `ghost` companies in the world, suspected of helping rich people avoid taxes or launder money, including many famous figures, political leaders and some criminals.
Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson and Spanish Industry Minister Jose Manuel Soria had to resign after their names appeared in the Panama Papers.
Since September last year, ICIJ data analyst Rigoberto Carvajal has created a version of this tool for reporters to use internally.
`We will not publish personal information,` Guevara said.
ICIJ’s move is completely different from Wikileaks.
`Most of the documents will be kept secret, so reporters can continue to explore. We believe that these documents were sent to ICIJ so we can maintain journalistic caution and accuracy.`
