The consortium of journalists responsible for initial reporting on the so-called Panama Papers will not seek to participate in a criminal investigation, the group announced in a statement.
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2588011
“We certainly welcome the U.S. Attorney’s Office reviewing all of the information from the Panama Papers series that we have made available to our readers and conducting its own investigation,” said Gerard Ryle, the director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. “However, ICIJ does not intend to play a role in that investigation. Our focus is journalism.”
“ICIJ, and its parent organization the Center for Public Integrity, are media organizations shielded by the First Amendment and other legal protections from becoming an arm of law enforcement,” he said.
Preet Bharara, the U.S. attorney for Manhattan, sent a letter to the group on Tuesday requesting its assistance in a criminal investigation his office had opened. Of approximately 14,000 people included in the documents, just 300 reside in the U.S., but at least several of those are in New York.
Officials from 35 nations gathered in Paris this week to discuss cooperation on enforcement matters over the issue, which involves about 250,000 offshore funds set up in tax havens around the globe. Those funds were exposed after more than 11 million pages of documents were leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.
Related Story: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/article/2588808
Officials in Iceland and Spain have already resigned as a result of the leak, while British Prime Minister David Cameron has come under fire over the revelation that he profited from an offshore fund before taking office.
No American officials have been directly implicated, though several individuals who are involved do have ties to Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton. At least two of those reside in New York, where the U.S. attorney is conducting its investigation.
