#PanamaPapers: John Doe Breaks Silence 6 Years After, Reveals “the Russian Government wants me Dead"

by Joshua Olufemi

The year was 2015. The plot began with a message “Hello. This is John Doe. Interested in data?” Two reporters with German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer were on the other side as recipients of the message.

What followed was over 2.6 terabytes of secret data containing more than 11.5 million financial and legal records managed by the offshore company Mossack Fonseca (MF). Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian company helps different politicians, businessmen and celebrities and criminal rings set up shell companies hidden in webs of secrecy from both regulators and public eyes.

Fast forward to April 2016, investigative and data journalists across the world had dived into the data leaks through a collaborative reporting adventure led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and began to report what was tagged the Panama Papers.

Nigeria’s foremost investigative journalism platform, Premium Times exclusively reported how Nigerian lawmakers, government executives including APC Presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu and business giants like Dangote and Hakeem Bello-Osagie operated shell companies hidden away in Panama and other tax havens.

It’s 2022, and John Doe, the whistleblower who started it all, has granted an interview for the first time since the leaks.

Panama Papers Journalists across the world are back to report new and unknown sides to the story. The interview reveals new claims from John Doe. Chief of these is that the Russian government is after his life and have deployed disinformation propaganda to discredit various reports, organisations and supporters of the Panama Papers Investigations. Key highlights include the financial agreement John Doe entered into with the German Police and the untold story John Doe nudged Panama Papers muckrakers to uncover.

Read the full interview conducted Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer for DER SPIEGEL.

In 2015, an anonymous whistleblower calling themself “John Doe” contacted the Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) and leaked more than 2.6 terabytes of secret data to two reporters, including millions of internal emails. They originated from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, one of the most important service providers in the global business of offshore firms. Following the revelations, which came to be known as the Panama Papers and were published under the auspices of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), Iceland’s Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson and Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had to resign from their posts, as did others. The leak sparked massive protests in London, Reykjavik and elsewhere and it triggered the launch of thousands of investigations worldwide. Stricter rules have applied in the world of shell companies ever since. Governments managed to recover more than $1.3[1] billion in lost tax revenues.

So far, “John Doe” has only spoken out publicly on one occasion, in the form of a manifesto published four weeks after the Panama Papers emerged. In it, the source called on policymakers to take action to combat global inequality. Since then, there have been books, podcasts and documentaries about the leak, and even a Hollywood movie starring Meryl Streep. But the whistleblower has remained silent.

“John Doe” recently contacted the two former SZ journalists, who now work for DER SPIEGEL. To ensure anonymity, our interview with the source was conducted over an internet connection and encrypted using software that spoke the whistleblower’s answers. The interview, which took place in the presence of a witness, has been shortened for readability, lightly edited and, as is standard practice in German journalism, submitted to the interview subject for authorization prior to publication.

How are you doing? Are you safe?

I am safe, to the best of my knowledge. We live in a perilous world, and that weighs on me sometimes. But overall, I am doing quite well, and I consider myself very fortunate.

You stayed silent for six years. Haven’t you been tempted to reveal that it was you who made the secret offshore dealings of heads of states and heads of governments, drug cartels and criminals public?

I have often wrestled, as I think many people do, with issues of being credited for my work. Fame was never part of the equation. At that stage, the only concern was staying alive long enough for someone to tell the story. Making the decision to compile the data available to me at Mossack Fonseca took days and felt like looking down the barrel of a loaded gun, but ultimately, I had to do it.

You reached out to the German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, which initiated a collaboration of more than 400 journalists, coordinated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). When you reached out to us, what did you have in mind?

When I contacted you, I had absolutely no idea what would happen or if you would even respond. I corresponded with many journalists who were uninterested, including at the New York Times[2] and Wall Street Journal[3]. Wikileaks[4], for its part, did not even bother answering when I reached out to them later on.

The global team started to publish the Panama Papers on April 3, 2016. What was that day like for you?

I recall it being like most Sundays. I met some friends for a meal and was stunned to learn that Edward Snowden had supercharged interest by discussing the project on Twitter.

The NSA-whistleblower, who now lives in exile in Russia, had somehow found out about the investigation and tweeted even before we had published about the “biggest leak in the history of data journalism” …

I remember seeing the posts fly by on social media by the thousands. It was like nothing I had ever seen. A literal information explosion. The people I was with were talking about it as soon as they heard. I did my best to act the way anyone else hearing about it for the first time would have.

Many experts compare the Panama Papers with Watergate. The most important Watergate source was Associate FBI Director Mark Felt, who went under the name “Deep Throat” and finally revealed his identity 33 years after Watergate …

I have thought about Mark Felt from time to time and the types of risks he faced. My risk profile looks a bit different than his. I may have to wait until I’m on my deathbed.

Why is that?

The Panama Papers involve so many different transnational criminal organizations, some of them with links to governments, that it’s difficult to imagine how it could ever be safe to identify myself. Felt primarily had to worry about Richard Nixon and his cronies, and Nixon resigned just a little more than two years after the break-in, rendering him powerless. Even in 50 years, it’s likely some of the groups I worry about will still be with us.

Did you tell anyone at all about your role in the Panama Papers?

After the news broke, I told only a few of the people I care about most.

So, you have remained silent now for six years. Why do you want to speak up now?

There have been several occasions over the past six years where I have been tempted to speak up. At each one of those points, it has seemed like the world was careening closer and closer toward catastrophe, and so the need to attempt to intervene has always seemed increasingly urgent. At the same time, however, I have had to balance a few factors.

Continue reading: https://www.dataphyte.com/latest-reports/panamapapers-john-doe-breaks-silence-6-years-after-reveals-the-russian-government-wants-me-dead/

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