– ‘Should be public’ –
But there is no sign of the ICIJ calling off the online database. The organization says it is important the public be able to look at information on any offshore company in the Panama Papers.
“We think that information about who owns the company should be public and transparent,” Marina Walker Guevara, deputy director of the ICIJ, told CNN.
She stressed, however, that “this is not disclosing private information en masse.”
Since reporting on the Panama Papers started at the beginning of April, Panama’s government has been struggling to persuade the world that it is not a haven for tax-dodgers and money launderers.
France has already put the Central American nation on its blacklist of tax havens, and other Western countries are considering following suit.
The online release of more Panama Papers could deepen the damage to Panama’s image.
“We’re very concerned that the country’s reputation will be affected by this situation,” the minister for government, Milton Henriquez, told TVN-2 television.
Panama’s pushback against being singled out as a facilitator of offshore business was further complicated just days ago when the United States declared members of one of country’s most prominent business families, the Wakeds, among the top global money launderers for ruthless drug cartels.
The US blacklisted many of the Waked’s 68 companies in Panama, whose interests span a bank, an upmarket shopping center, duty free outlets and media. One of the suspects, Nidal Ahmed Waked Hatum, was arrested in Colombia and is awaiting extradition to the United States to face charges.
On Sunday, Panama’s Chamber of Commerce for Industry and Agriculture acknowledged that the scandals were “rocking the country.”
