Panama Papers: the reaction from around the world

Rachel Sylvester, the Times

“It would, though, be deeply complacent for the prime minister to assume that he has no reason to worry. Individual politicians may not be benefiting from offshore arrangements, but the UK is institutionally complicit in tax evasion, money-laundering, and corporate cover-ups. George Osborne misjudged the public mood when he declared a great victory over Google agreeing to pay £130m in tax – a fraction of the rate paid by other companies and individuals. The Conservatives are still hampered by the toxic reputation of being the party of the rich. Tax avoidance is about fairness. If the government does not do more to close the loopholes, the sense will linger that it is one rule for the have-yachts and another for the have-nots. There is no reason at all for the prime minister to be smug.”

Charles P Pierce, GQ

“It strikes me that one of the worst jobs in the world is to be the front man for all the money that Vladimir Putin stole. Somewhere out there is an umbrella full of plutonium with your name on it, tovarich. Another thing that strikes me is that this vast web of interlocking schemes, all 11.5 million files of it, represents the shady doings of one freaking firm. The mind, she boggles, and the gob, she is smacked. It’s time for all the governments named in these documents to come clean, and for their citizens to demand that they do so. And while there isn’t yet a major American political or financial figure tied to these files, the glimpse they give into how the international oligarchs do their business, while arranging to stiff their native countries of the taxes they by right ought to be paying, is bound to resonate in the current presidential election. These are the ultimate loopholes through which much of the world’s wealth disappears, never to return again.”

Drew Schwartz, Vice

“If you live in one of the 200 countries and territories that Mossack Fonseca’s clients call home – and, given the fact you’re reading this article, you probably do – the story of the Panama Papers is your story. The money the law firm helps to hide should be used to pay for your schools, your roads, your hospitals. The criminals it works with run the most violent illegal organisations your country has ever seen. The politicians who have taken and made bribes, dodged taxes and amassed fortunes of unimaginable scale are your politicians.”

Steve Richards, the Independent

“As the UK prepares to vote on whether or not to stay in the EU, the explosive issue of tax avoidance is a vivid illustration of why going it alone is not a viable option for a medium-sized economic power. To make some sense of a wildly destabilising global economy, governments must act together on many fronts, including ensuring the super-rich pay their share.”

Ingo Arzt, Taz

“For decades, nation states have been trying keep up with asocial global elites who stash away their riches in tax havens as if their libido would sink if they had to stick to national tax rates. Now the global press is finally striking back. In the last few years journalists have at last started to find answers on how to form a fourth estate in the global community. Because other powers are barely represented. There is no global state system, and those institutions that try to simulate it, such as the UN or the G20, have failed to get a grip on tax evasion.”

Leonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg View

“If Putin is ever overthrown, he will be as difficult to convict on charges of corruption as former Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych and his associates have been. After all, they had only imitated what Putin was doing in Russia. Putin, however, has no obvious contingency plan in case he’s overthrown. The financial arrangements described by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists on the basis of the Panama files would leave him with nothing if he ceased to be Putin the institution, as well as the man.”