Однако я не думаю, что Panama Papers могут изменить ход гибридной войны против России. В последние годы россияне пережили девальвацию рубля, падение цен на нефть, инфляцию, взаимные санкции и так далее. Мы вряд ли пойдем на баррикады из-за западных уток.

On April 5, 2016, the leading Munich daily Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) published a «sensational» article titled: «Panama Papers: The secrets of dirty money». The on-line version is presented in the best traditions of yellow press.

The article begins like a fairy tale: «Over a year ago, an anonymous source contacted the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) with encrypted documents from Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm that sells anonymous offshore companies around the world»97.

The mysterious messenger delivered megatons of compromising information while seeking no financial compensation. He simply «wanted to make these crimes public». Frankly speaking, I’d bet that some special services were hiding behind this modern Robin Hood. In order to make the story more credible, the SZ added a video with a sort of «script» of the messenger’s call. Then it describes how SZ journalists worked for 12 months with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

In order to justify a rather dubious source of information, the SZ emphasizes the dimension of the leaks. «The Panama Papers include approximately 11.5 million documents. The data primarily comprises e-mails, pdf files, photo files, and excerpts of an internal Mossack Fonseca database, covering a period from the 1970s to the spring of 2016».

The paper boastfully compares the size of its leak with previous scandalous leaks, namely, Offshore Leaks, Lux, and Swiss Leaks. I teach finance and studied these cases in-depth in order to tell about them my students. Offshore Leaks (April, 2013) revealed details of 130,000 offshore accounts. LuxLeaks (November, 2014) disclosed tax avoidance schemes used by international firms registered in Luxembourg. Swiss Leaks (February, 2015) were concerned with a giant tax evasion scheme by the British multinational bank HSBC via its Swiss subsidiary HSBC Private Bank (Suisse).

All these leaks had an explicitly political character, labeled as a noble struggle against the evil of offshore companies. Yet the struggle is very selective. It’s no secret that U.S. multinationals such as Apple, Google, Starbucks etc. are the biggest tax evaders, using offshore schemes. However, Offshore Leaks were focused on firms and persons from the ex-USSR and China. Apart from negative publicity for some minor political figures, that did not seriously hurt anybody of the mentioned persons. Maybe they were preparing the ground for new revelations.

LuxLeaks implicated Jean-Claude Juncker, former Prime Minister of Luxembourg and just elected President of the European Commission. One may wonder, why a person with a tarnished reputation would become the head of an important European entity. Taking into account Luxleaks’ perfect timing (not before, but after the elections), the answer is obvious. A compromised top international official would be more docile, particularly, in difficult talks on the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership. Probably only Swiss Leaks, which were aimed at cracking down on HSBC were commercially motivated.

While running a big cover picture with Putin and Assad, Süddeutsche Zeitung did not give names. The Guardian goes further, pointing the finger at Putin. The on-line version has a video «How to Hide a Billion Dollars» with Putin on the cover.