Panama Papers

[Magda Hassan]

Who benefits from the Panama Papers Leak?

Apr 3, 2016

• 4,758 views
  
• 46 Likes
  
• [URL="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/giant-leak-offshore-financial-records-exposes-global-array-john-m-?trk=pulse_spock-articles#comments-7636289686815083291"]
  14 Comments[/URL]
  

We are all aware of the ways to avoid taxes, commit fraud, launder money, hide assets and be anonymous players in the global financial system. Nothing new. We are all aware of FOREX rigging, commodity price rigging, equity / bond market rigging, and currency value rigging that goes on daily in the same global financial system. Nothing new.
Yet, it seems that when we see recent "leaks" such as:

1. The IMF needing "an event" to leverage Germany into taking a haircut on Greek debt;
   
2. The hubris of the Hillary Clinton campaign funding. The Clinton Foundation's tax re-filings, tainted donations, diplomatic favors, curious State department approvals (Clinton business as usual), and
   
3. The Rich and Famous Financial Asset Obfuscation Network exposed.
   

...we are shocked and dismayed by the covert and overt corruption in the global financial system.

Sorry folks. Believe it.

The global financial system is horribly corrupt.

What I find even more curious is the lack of U.S., British, European and Israeli exposure in these recent Panama Paper "leaks." Right?
Surely, we are to believe the western epicenters of the global financial system are pristine examples of integrity, moral certitude and beyond reproach? Right?
Surely, we are to believe the ICIJ (The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists) is 100% independent, non-partisan, and unbiased? Right?
The ICIJ is funded by the Adessium Foundation, Open Society Foundations, The Sigrid Rausing Trust, the Fritt Ord Foundation, the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, The Ford Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts and Waterloo Foundation.

• Adessium (partly funded by George Soros)
  

• Open Society Foundations (George Soros foundations, a top contributor to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, and guilty of a sordid past)
  

• Sigrid Rausing Trust (based in the U.K.)
  
• Fritt Ord Foundation (based in Norway)
  
• Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting (based in the U.S.)
  
• The Ford Foundation (Based in the U.S. and a key funder of Israeli NGOs)
  
• David and Lucile Packard Foundation (based in the U.S.)
  
• Pew Charitable Trusts (based in the U.S.)
  
• Waterloo Foundation (based in the U.K. (Wales))
  
• The "Panama Papers" were also supported (funded) by USAID, the United States Government agency which is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid.
  
• USAID estimated its budget for "media strengthening programs in over 30 countries" at $40 million annually, including aiding "independent media organizations and bloggers in over a dozen countries," In Ukraine before the coup, USAID offered training in "mobile phone and website security," which sounds a bit like an operation to thwart the local government's intelligence gathering, an ironic position for the U.S. with its surveillance obsession, including prosecuting whistleblowers based on evidence that they talked to journalists.
  
  
• USAID, working with billionaire George Soros's Open Society, also funds the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, which engages in "investigative journalism" that usually goes after governments that have fallen into disfavor with the United States and then are singled out for accusations of corruption. The USAID-funded OCCRP also collaborates with Bellingcat, an online investigative website founded by blogger Eliot Higgins.
  

More interesting facts and more questions:

• The convenient timing of a data "leak" is meant to maximize the damage. Why now?
  
• The data dump consisted of 2.6 terabytes of data, 11.5 millions documents, and 214,000 shell companies. Who would have the access and technical ability to isolate and remove the largest data leak in history?
  
• The primary targets: Vladimir Putin, Bashar Al-Assad, Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, the Argentine leader Mauricio Macri, the King of Saudi Arabia, and a sister of the former King of Spain. Why them?
  
• Another target is the Russian Sberbank, whose U.S. investment banking branch recently enlisted the services of the Podesta Group. According to its lobbying registration form, the firm will work on banking, trade, and foreign relations issues. One of the three lobbyists working on the account is Tony Podesta, a bundler for the Clinton campaign and the brother of campaign chairman John Podesta, who co-founded the firm.
  
  
• Mossack Fonseca had at least 441 US clients, 3,072 US companies, 211 US beneficiaries and 3,467 U.S.-based shareholders. Who are they?
  

The timing, data volume, the targets and missing US names begs the final question.

Cui Bono?
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/giant-lea...k-articles