The International Consortium of Investigative Journalism has published material on Panamanian offshore companies owned by people close to Vladimir Putin. First of all, we are talking about a childhood friend of Russia, virtuoso musician Sergei Roldugin and shareholder Yuri E.

In total, the international investigation deals with 12 families of Russian high officials and 12 world leaders - all of them turned out to be owners of Panamanian offshore companies.

According to the investigation, offshore companies with a turnover of more than $2 billion may be associated with President Putin. Information about this is contained in documents belonging to the Panamanian offshore company Mossack Fonseca, which the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism received from its source. By publishing their investigation jointly with the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, the journalists granted publication rights to more than a hundred publications around the world. Mossack Fonseca itself has already called the leak of offshore documents a crime. Representatives of the company stated that they are a respectable firm and will defend their name in court.

The Russian part of the investigation is mainly devoted to the youthful friend of the President of Russia, Sergei Roldugin. He is not only a virtuoso cellist, but also the godfather of Maria, one of the daughters of President Putin, as well as a minority shareholder of Rossiya Bank, businessman Yuri Kovalchuk. As follows from the published materials, Roldugin owns two offshore companies, the turnover of one of them exceeds $2 billion.

It seemed suspicious to journalists that these offshore companies were making lucrative deals with large Russian companies. According to the media, their owners had insider information. Some of the transactions were canceled after some time due to the fault of Roldugin, a major partner of the offshore company. The same firm received significant funds for the failure of the contract. These offshore companies were also forgiven of millions of debts. One of Roldugin's firms also held a 12.5% ​​stake in VI (formerly called Video International). It was created by an ex-Secretary of the Press who died last year in the United States.

The Kremlin was aware of the forthcoming publication regarding Roldugin and other acquaintances of President Putin. Presidential press secretary Dmitry a few days ago called this investigation "another stuffing that claims to be objective." On Monday, commenting on the published investigation, Peskov said that the Kremlin expects the continuation of information stuffing against Vladimir Putin and Russia. “We look forward to continuing. There will be a continuation, I can announce for this organization,” he said.

Sergei Roldugin has been described as an unmercenary loyalist to Putin who only nominally manages these companies. The authors of the investigation believe that the companies are accumulating funds in the interests of the President of Russia, but emphasize that his signature is not on any of the documents.

The German publication Neue Zürcher Zeitung, in connection with the publication, calls the musician and businessman Roldugin "the nominal holder of Putin's money." The Irish Times notes that Roldugin acts as "a cover for Putin's friends, and possibly for Putin himself."

Western publications are already calling the leaked documents "Panamagate" - by analogy with the famous Watergate, which cost the career of the US President. Among other statesmen, the President of Ukraine Petro, the President of Syria and the Prime Minister of Iceland Sigmundur David Gunnleigsson are involved in offshore scandals. Around 15,000 Icelandic citizens have already signed a petition demanding Gunnleigsson's resignation.

The British edition of The Guardian calls the publication of the consortium "an unprecedented leak of documents" and illustrates the data given in the article with a video sequence depicting the Russian president called "How to hide a billion dollars." The publication notes that the signature of the President of Russia is not on any of the documents, but comes to the conclusion that all these transactions would not have taken place without his "patronage".

Slate magazine quoted an ex-US intelligence officer as calling the scandal "the biggest leak in the history of data journalism."

At the same time, the American publication in the publication about the scandal did not put Putin's name in the headline. The phrase "world leaders" appears in it. Putin's name appears only once in the material, where it is noted that Sergei Roldugin and Yuri Kovalchuk are close acquaintances of the Russian president.

It is worth noting that Putin himself in December 2013, in a message to the Federal Assembly, stated that the income of companies that are registered offshore should be taxed under Russian law: “If you want offshore, please, but the money is here,” the president said then.

According to a study by the Boston Consulting Group, out of the $2 trillion in private fortunes of Russians, a fifth is hidden offshore.

The most modest scandal

The scandal around Petro Poroshenko's offshore company, although it looks the most modest, at the same time, the President of Ukraine has the most to lose in this crisis. Already now in Ukraine they believe that the investigation of the International Journalistic Consortium will unequivocally bury Poroshenko's hopes for a second presidential term.

Poroshenko was found to have an offshore company, Prime Asset Partners Limited, through which not a single transaction went through. Offshores owned by President Poroshenko are not the brightest Ukrainian news, everyone already knew that the confectionery was registered in an offshore jurisdiction. In this case, the people who managed the business of the Ukrainian president in the summer of 2014 built the usual scheme for the sale of large Ukrainian assets - that is, they fulfilled the presidential election promises. Probably trying to evade taxes at the same time. But the sale has not happened yet, and the violation, if there was one, draws on an administrative fine. The fact is that this offshore was not indicated along with others in the declaration of the President of Ukraine for 2014.

Journalists rest on the issue of 1000 shares of $1, which are 100% owned by Petro Poroshenko. And this thousand dollars was not indicated in the declaration by the President of Ukraine.

I wonder how this scandal unfolds in Ukraine. It was promptly covered by three central television channels of the country, including the state-owned First National, and the "trick" of the text on the website of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) was the interruption of the actions of the President of Ukraine to register an offshore with battles in the Donbass.

The registration of the company took place in August 2014, simultaneously with the death of Ukrainian soldiers in the Ilovaisk cauldron.

“On September 1, 2014, Poroshenko announced that Russia had committed an undisguised aggression against Ukraine. And on the same day, he provided Mossack Fonseca with a utility bill as proof of his home address,” is one of the most innocent quotes on the OCCRP website.

Poroshenko's problem is that it was he who promised his country to "live in a new way" two years ago, and right now the degree of dissatisfaction with the fight against corruption in the country has reached its peak.

Here, as they say, every bast in a row - and a loud public anti-corruption campaign, and the obvious failure of the reform with the unjustifiably prolonged resignation of Prosecutor General Viktor Shokin. The latter gracefully took revenge on Poroshenko, dismissing his deputy, the main reformer of the prosecutor's office, on the last day of his work. Investigators who investigated the case of "diamond prosecutors" have been fired. Judicial reform, which was much talked about, but which has not yet begun. And even the scandal with the publication of the influential New York Times about Ukrainian corruption, which President Poroshenko first called “part of a hybrid war against Ukraine”, and then, after a hail of criticism, was forced to apologize a day later.

Governors, deputies and others

“In the world economic practice, the withdrawal of funds for the so-called. offshore companies (that is, companies registered in jurisdictions that do not charge income tax and do not disclose information about the owners of such companies to third parties) are extremely common, says a lawyer from the FBK tax consulting department. “Firstly, it provides tax savings, secondly, this way the flexibility of further disposal of funds is achieved, and, thirdly, this tool allows you to ensure the confidentiality of the actual owner of the funds on the account of an offshore company.”

Since the existence of companies registered in offshore jurisdictions is quite legal in itself, the ways of withdrawing funds to offshore jurisdictions are very diverse. For example, an offshore company can, either directly or through an agent acting on its behalf (or a special structure such as a partnership), participate in trading activities, accumulating profits received from the resale of goods. Also, an offshore company can be the recipient of dividends that go to it, bypassing the complex chain of other companies necessary to receive all possible tax benefits in relation to such dividends.
Varieties of these methods of obtaining funds are the trading of securities, real estate by an offshore company, often through specially created funds. In addition, offshore companies can receive and issue loans. Thus, Paramonov concludes, there are many legal ways to deposit funds into the accounts of offshore companies.

During the investigation, it turned out that governors, deputies and their relatives also own foreign offshore companies, although they do not have the right to do so by law.

One of them is the governor of the Pskov region, whom the journalist considers involved in his beating in 2010. According to published materials, Turchak's wife owned shares in Burtford Unicorp Inc. (British Virgin Islands) from 2008 to 2015.

The governor of the Chelyabinsk region in 2014 used the Panamanian offshore Spaceship Consulting S.A. when buying bills of a Russian company, which he himself controlled. As follows from the documents, he did not get rid of the asset when he took office as governor in 2014, although he was obliged to.

MP, a successful businessman in the past, has owned Panamanian-based Delcroft Real Estate since 2011. The authors of the investigation discovered his association with Bariton Consultants since 2007. Initially, a general power of attorney was issued in his name, and in 2009 Zvagelsky signed an agreement on the transfer of his shares to trust management.

One of the richest State Duma deputies, United Russia Mikhail, is associated with the EuroImpex Group Corp, registered in the British Virgin Islands. Although the company is officially registered as a citizen of the Seychelles, in 2013 and 2015 it turned out that Slipenchuk is the real beneficiary of the company.

Since a number of anti-corruption laws came into force in May 2013, according to which deputies and civil servants are prohibited from owning foreign financial instruments, including shares of offshore companies, politicians and officials had to get rid of foreign assets within three months.

In addition, in 2015, the law on deoffshorization came into force, according to which Russian residents and companies are required to inform the authorized bodies about their share in offshore companies if it exceeds 10% of the total capital. State Duma deputies are prohibited from participating in entrepreneurial activities.

Slipenchuk, in particular, was obliged to terminate the trust management of this property or resign from his position. Slipenchuk, judging by the MF documents, did neither. In a commentary to Novaya Gazeta, the deputy claims that he sold his stake in this company back in 2007.

Another deputy from the ruling party, Alexander, is credited by the authors of the investigation with the ownership of AED International Limited, registered in the British Virgin Islands. Until 2011, the deputy owned 100% of the company's shares, but about a month before the elections, he transferred a block of shares in favor of his daughter.

The material of the journalists notes that, according to the declarations, Babakov is one of the poorest deputies of the State Duma, however, according to them, his family owned, in addition to foreign companies, also foreign real estate.

According to the state registers of France, the family of the deputy Babakov owned a luxurious estate near Versailles, the former residence of the French kings, as well as an apartment in Paris, next to the Eiffel Tower. Babakov's daughter Olga, when transferring AED International Limited to her, indicated an apartment in London with an area of ​​100 sq. m. The apartments belong to a real estate company. In 2010, the apartment was put up for rent and cost almost £5,000 (230,000 rubles) a month, more than Deputy Babakov's official monthly income for that year. Thanks to the documents on AED International, journalists have good reason to believe that Deputy Babakov and his longtime business partner may be the ultimate owners of a large holding VS Energy, which manages not only energy assets in Ukraine, but also expensive real estate (for example, a Kyiv hotel " Premier Palace). The media have long associated this holding with Giner and Babakov.

Senator Suleimen Geremeev, who represents the Chechen Republic in the upper house of parliament, also appears in the investigation. Geremeev managed the business of the Grant Pacific Corporation (BVO) from 2004 to 2006 by proxy. The authors of the investigation emphasize that at that time the ownership of such a company was not a violation of the law. The offshore company, to which Geremeev was related, owns the Maloyaroslavetsky plant of dry building mixes in Russia. It was launched at the beginning of 2005 and produced Compomix brand plasters, fillers, screeds and tile adhesives. Now the plant is in the process of liquidation.

The wife of Vladimir Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov, figure skater, according to MF documents, is the beneficiary of Carina Global Assets Ltd, also registered in the British Virgin Islands. The company was liquidated in November last year. The authors of the investigation believe that Navka, as the wife of a high-ranking civil servant, should have done it earlier in order not to violate the law. Meanwhile, Peskov himself, commenting on the scandalous report, said that he would not tell when exactly he registered the marriage with the Olympic champion, calling his marriage a "personal matter."

The investigation also mentions the billionaire co-owner of Rossiya Bank close to Putin, Yuri Kovalchuk, who allegedly transferred more than $1 billion to the offshore company Sandalwood Continental. The funds came from a Russian-controlled Cypriot bank. Sandalwood Continental has issued several loans to Ozon, an offshore firm that owns the Igra ski resort, co-owned by Kovalchuk. By the way, she celebrated a wedding there, which is called the daughter of the Russian president.

“This investigation revives the idea of ​​the elite as a corrupt structure among the people. Approximately such a consciousness has been present in our citizens since the late 1970s, and now it is being revived. A powerful change in the mood of society in the near future should not be expected, but people will put a tick on themselves, ”the political scientist believes. According to him, now there is a “powerful information attack” against Putin, which “over time can strengthen the rejection of the current situation in society, and over time, change the attitude of society towards Putin himself.”

The political scientist says that the campaign to destroy the reputation of the authorities has been going on for a long time and many unrelated actors outside and inside the country are participating in it. According to his forecasts, against the background of a certain personnel stagnation in power, the array of such materials will increase, and the defendants in the investigation may fall under new Western sanctions. No one knows when and whether a critical mass of such “revelations” will be reached at all, Ignatov believes, but in the end “it may have an impact on the electoral behavior of citizens.”

The Panamanian golden frog belongs to the order Anurans. The amphibian was first discovered in 2010 during an expedition to Panamanian evergreen forests by biologists from the Senckenberg Institute in the German city of Frankfurt am Main.

Scientists come to this virgin area for the second time. On their last trip, they noticed an unusual frog croaking from the dense thickets.

It was singing with an unfamiliar timbre that betrayed the presence of an unknown species of frogs. A thorough search for singing males, calling the female for mating, failed to find. But on the other hand, luck smiled at biologists during repeated searches for an unfamiliar amphibian.

A previously unknown species of frog appeared before surprised naturalists, such a discovery in the 21st century is a rarity for researchers. “Despite the fact that we quite quickly distinguished the vocal part of males calling for mating from the timbres of other tailless amphibians known to us, we could not catch a single specimen for a very long time due to the extremely dense vegetation in the forest.

When we succeeded, we discovered that the amphibian colors its fingers bright yellow when touched, which is why we named the new species the "yellow-colored frog," German scientist leader Andreas Herz told reporters.

External signs of the Panamanian golden frog

The size of this frog is only two centimeters. The Panamanian golden frog is bright yellow.

This amazing amphibian has an interesting feature: when touched, the frog's skin leaves a golden trace on the palms.

Distribution and habitats of golden frogs

The Panamanian golden frog lives in the remote region of the Central Panama Range, is found in reservoirs hiding in dense forest thickets.

Reproduction of Panamanian golden frogs

The Panamanian golden frog belongs to the so-called rain frogs, which do not have a tadpole stage. Small frogs immediately emerge from the eggs, bypassing the larval stage.
Features of the pigmentation of the frog.

The female lays her eggs in the water-filled plant cavities and leaves the "children", who are further guarded by the male.

Whether the coloring matter is poisonous or not remains to be determined by scientists through a thorough chemical analysis. Maybe just a coloring pigment is an unstable compound and decomposes upon contact.

What is the reason for the instability of the pigment, scientists need to find out the reasons. As Hertz points out, it is not clear whether the yellow dye is a frog poison that protects the amphibian from predators, or whether the pigment has no practical significance for the amphibian at all. Experts will find an answer to this and many other questions only when they get acquainted with the analysis of the composition of frog paint.

Today, in the Far East and other regions of our country, Channel One hosted another intellectual TV game called "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?". Here you can find a brief overview of the game, as well as find out all the answers in the game "Who wants to be a millionaire?" from 1.07.2017.

The following players took part in the game:

1. First pair of players:
2. Second pair of players: Oleg Mityaev and Viktor Zinchuk

Questions to the first pair of players

Larisa Rubalskaya and Anatoly Wasserman

1. Who or what is with me "according to my will" in the children's song?

2. What answer is traditionally given to the riddle: “In winter and summer in one color”?

3. Who is a ground beetle?

4. What hairstyle does Jack Sparrow wear in Pirates of the Caribbean?

5. What number in Russian lotto was called "stools"?

6. What is the lyrical hero of Yuri Kukin's song chasing after?

7. What is the name of the main art museum in Munich?

8. Which city does not have a subway?

9. Who became the main character of the film "Odyssey" directed by Jerome Salle?

10. What color makeup in Japanese kabuki theater symbolizes strength, courage, justice?

11. What communication method do Panamanian golden frogs have?

Questions to the second pair of players

Oleg Mityaev and Viktor Zinchuk

1. What phrase ironically wish good luck?

2. What is the name of Eldar Ryazanov's comedy?

3. What star is mentioned in the title of Viktor Tsoi's song?

4. Where do track and field athletes compete in throwing?

5. Which of these is not dishes?

6. What time period is mentioned in the title of Gabriel Garcia Márquez's novel?

7. How many players are on the curling team?

8. What European capital stands on the Bull River?

9. Who is the monument to whom in the Portuguese town of Sabroz is called “Boy Launching Boats”?

10. Who was the last Nobel laureate from Russia in the 20th century?

11. In what case do they “take reefs” on a sailboat?

12. In which movie did James Bond officially get married?

13. What term appeared in 1917 thanks to the review of Guillaume Apollinaire for the ballet "Parade"?

Answers to the questions of the first pair of players

1. Forest deer
2. insect
3. dreadlocks
4. beyond the fog
5. pinakothek
6. Voronezh
7. Jacques Yves Cousteau
8. red
9. sign language

Answers to the questions of the second pair of players

1. Flag in your hands!
2. "Garage"
3. by the name of the sun
4. in the sector
5. waffle iron
6. a hundred years
7. Kishinev
8. Ferdinand Magellan
9. Zhores Alferov
10. in strong wind
11. "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"
12. surrealism

The first pair of players set their sights on a fireproof sum of 400 thousand rubles, but the players could not win it and left empty-handed. The second pair of players overcame the taken barrier of a fireproof amount of 100 thousand rubles, the players left the transfer with a win of 400 thousand rubles.

"The biggest leak that journalists have ever dealt with" is how the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung described the "Panama Papers" that came into its possession more than a year ago. This data formed the basis of a large-scale journalistic investigation about offshore companies that allow heads of state, businessmen and world celebrities to earn tens of billions of dollars on dubious transactions. On the evening of Sunday, April 3, the world's largest media published its results, which caused a huge outcry. DW has put together everything you need to know about the Panama Papers investigation.

What are the Panama Papers

In the hands of journalists were internal archival documents of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, engaged in the registration of offshore companies. This is a total of 2.6 terabytes of data, or 11.5 million documents, including emails, pdf files, photographs and excerpts from Mossack Fonseca's internal database. They cover the company's work from the 1970s until the spring of 2016.

This data was given to the newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung by an unknown person, who, according to the publication, "did not want any financial reward or anything else in return, except for some security measures." The newspaper forwarded the information received from the source to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Over the course of a year, it was analyzed by about 400 journalists from more than 100 media outlets in 80 countries, as well as by the Center for the Study of Corruption and Organized Crime (OCCRP).

What is known aboutmossackFonseca

Those wishing to open an offshore company in Panama or another tax haven should use the services of registrar firms, such as Mossack Fonseca, founded in 1977. The main office of the company is located in Panama. However, according to its website, Mossack Fonseca has an extensive network of offices in many countries, including the British Virgin Islands, Switzerland, the UK and the Netherlands.

The founders of the company are German-born Jürgen Mossack, whose father, according to ICIJ, served in the SS during World War II and subsequently emigrated to Panama, and writer Ramon Fonseca, who until recently worked as an adviser to the Panamanian president.

According to The Guardian newspaper, Mossack Fonseca is the fourth largest offshore company incorporation and support firm in the world. More than 214,000 offshore companies from more than 200 countries are mentioned in the company's documents that came to journalists. According to the investigation, about 500 banks and their subsidiaries, including British HSBC and Swiss UBS, registered more than 15,000 offshore companies through Mossack Fonseca, which were used to hide their clients' funds.

What has been learned from"Panamanian files"

Among these clients, in particular, were people from the inner circle of Russian President Vladimir Putin, follows from the papers of Mossack Fonseca. As a result of complex financial transactions, hundreds of millions of dollars settled in the accounts of shell companies belonging to them. According to the authors of the investigation, most offshore transactions are legal if the firms opened in tax havens are used in accordance with the law. However, from the documents of the Panamanian company it follows that banks, law firms and other market players often neglected the legal requirement to check whether their clients were involved in criminal schemes.

One of the schemes described by the authors of the investigation looked like this. On February 10, 2011, an unknown company called Sandalwood Continental from the British Virgin Islands loaned $200 million to a similarly mysterious Cypriot firm, Horwich Trading Ltd. The next day, Sandalwood transferred the rights to collect this debt, including interest, to a certain company Ove Financial Corp., also registered in the British Virgin Islands, for which they received a symbolic one US dollar.

In turn, Ove Financial Corp. sold the rights to International Media Overseas the same day, who also paid one US dollar for it. "In 24 hours, the debt on paper passed through three countries, two banks and four companies, making the money almost untraceable," according to an investigation published on the ICIJ website.

Context

The mysterious companies, as the journalists found out, turned out to be connected with people close to Putin. Thus, the Sandalwood company was managed by Yuri Kovalchuk's Rossiya bank, who is often called Putin's personal banker, and the International Media Overseas company, according to the results of the investigation, belongs to the famous cellist Sergei Roldugin, who called himself a friend of the Russian president.

Who else is mentioned in the "Panama Papers"

The deal described is one of dozens of similar transactions totaling at least $2 billion that are associated with people or companies close to Putin, follows from the Panama Papers. Part of the money deposited in the accounts of offshore firms controlled by "Putin's people", according to the authors of the investigation, was spent on the personal needs of officials.

So, in 2010 and 2011, Sandalwood lent $11.3 million to Ozon, an offshore company that owns the elite ski resort Igora in the Leningrad Region, writes The Guardian, which participated in the investigation. And in 2013, this resort allegedly became the venue for the celebration of the wedding of Yekaterina Tikhonova, who Reuters in December called the youngest daughter of Vladimir Putin.

However, Putin personally does not appear to own any offshore assets. At least in the Mossack Fonseca documents there is no indication of this. At the same time, the Panama Papers shed light on the offshore assets of 12 former and current world leaders or their families. Among them are Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev and Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson. The documents contain the names of a total of 140 politicians and world celebrities. As it turned out, Argentine footballer Lionel Messi and actor Jackie Chan, who owns at least six companies under Mossack Fonseca, also resorted to offshore schemes.

The documents were received by the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. He processed them for a number of publications together with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalism (ICIJ). The case comes from Mossack Fonseca, a law firm that allegedly helped wealthy clients set up shell companies in Panama, one of the last strongholds of banking secrecy.

Many media, including the Wall Street Journal, have long tried to trace the sources and whereabouts of the money of some of the individuals and families mentioned in the documents. However, this leak provides a rare opportunity to look at the situation in a broader perspective and allows us to understand something new about global financial flows.

The scale of operations is amazing. Old friends and associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin have pumped $2 billion through Panama over the years, the ICIJ said in a report. A Kremlin official has already called the report an example of "Putinophobia." A family member of Chinese President Xi Jinping, the King of Saudi Arabia and the son of Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak, was also allegedly linked to Panama. Mr. Xi's son-in-law and the Saudi authorities declined to comment to ICIJ, while Mr. Najib's son told the consortium that he was doing "international business" with the help of the Panamanian company.

Context

Iceland and the Panama Papers

Suddeutsche Zeitung 04/05/2016

Putin is not listed in the Panama Papers

Russian service RFI 04.04.2016
The documents also mention a number of Western leaders, including Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, several members of the British Parliament and the late father of British Prime Minister David Cameron. The ICIJ claims to have data on approximately 140 leaders and politicians, as well as hundreds of others, who have set up companies in Panama over the past 40 years.

The mere fact of establishing such a company or opening a bank account in Panama cannot serve as evidence that a person has committed any crimes. Some individuals mentioned in the documents have already stated that they needed Panamanian accounts and firms for legitimate business transactions. Mossack Fonseca also stressed that it "does not encourage or support any illegal activity." The ICIJ and its partners have been working on the Panama Papers for a year, but there is still a lot of work to be done before anyone can be held criminally responsible.

Of course, this does not prevent the press from jumping to conclusions already now. In a strange way, many of the journalists focus on the topic of tax evasion. They say the documents show the ease with which the wealthy use Panamanian bank secrecy laws, which have long been opposed by tax evaders around the world, to "hide" their funds.

A student of leftist economist Thomas Piketty, Gabriel Zucman, who published a book against offshore tax havens last year, predictably stated in an ICIJ commentary: harmful and criminal practices."

The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, which calls Panama "the last true tax haven," clearly hopes the scandal will force the Central American country to change its banking secrecy laws. Some states - in particular, Australia, Germany and Britain - have either already launched tax investigations against their citizens mentioned in the documents, or are promising to start them.

Taxes are definitely important. However, it is difficult to see how the main issue in this case can be considered whether the owners of Panamanian companies have paid taxes in full. Much more important is the question of where officials and politicians from different countries get so much money from.

Clearly, some of the most undemocratic and non-transparent regimes play an important role in the Panama Papers. Before us is clear evidence showing how narrow circles of influential figures enriched by such regimes are transferring their money abroad.

Western governments should pay particular attention to ICIJ suggestions that some of the reported operations were designed to circumvent Western sanctions against regimes or individuals. In addition, the citizens of Russia and China certainly deserve to know more about the financial affairs of their leadership. It is worth noting that in the age of the Internet, information will reach them, despite all the attempts of their governments to prevent this.

All these aspects of the Panama Papers deserve in-depth consideration - both in the press, and among voters, and, possibly, in the courts of various countries. It would be a mistake to confine ourselves to the problem of tax evasion ahead of time. In this case, this favorite sport of the political class would be a false target. Incomes and foreign accounts of politicians are much more important.