Corruption International

Sol W. Sanders

There are more questions than answers, at least so far, in the leak of bits and pieces of what is said to be 11.5 million documents from, again, allegedly, an incredibly corrupt Panamanian law firm. The first gleanings from "the papers" has already toppled the prime minister of Iceland, caught ostensibly in a conflict of interest with the country's banks which helped bring on the 2007-08 worldwide financial crisis. So far, more than seventy current or former heads of state and government have been implicated in the whole affair. According to findings partially published by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, itself a somewhat mysterious newsgathering alliance of leftwing newspapers around the world, the records include three dozen entities blacklisted by the US. Why has this group refused to release all the documents?

They apparently include everything and everyone from Mexican drug-lords to terrorist groups to sanctioned North Korea and Iran. It's not exactly new news that heads of state and government around the world have been dipping into the public trough, sometimes rather deeply as in a still blossoming scandal in Malaysia. There our colleagues at The Wall Street Journal are reporting a cool $1 billion has turned up mysteriously in the personal bank account of Prime Minister Najib Razak assuring his debtors his checks wouldn't bounce.

....To Read More