The Panama Papers exposed a huge global problem. What's next? | Robert Palmer

Translator: Blanca Viñas Caneda Reviewer: Alicia Ferreiro

[On April 3, 2016 we saw the largest data leak in history.]

[O 3 de abril de 2016, vemos a maior filtración de datos da historia.

Os "papeis de Panamá" expoñen a xente rica e poderosa

[The Panama Papers exposed rich and powerful people]

[hiding vast amounts of money in offshore accounts.]

que ocultou grandes cantidades de diñeiro en paraísos fiscais.

[What does this mean?]

Que significa isto?

[We called Robert Palmer of Global Witness to explain.]

Robert Palmer, de Global Witness, explícanolo].

This week, there have been a whole slew and deluge of stories

Esta semana houbo unha avalancha de historias

coming out from the leak of 11 million documents

por mor da filtración de 11 millóns de documentos

from a Panamanian-based law firm called Mossack Fonseca.

provenientes do bufete de avogados Mossack Fonseca, con sede en Panamá.

The release of these papers from Panama lifts the veil on a tiny piece

A información sobre estes documentos

deixa ao descuberto unha pequena parte

of the secretive offshore world.

do mundo secreto dos paraísos fiscais.

We get an insight into how clients and banks and lawyers

Móstranos o xeito en que clientes, bancos e avogados

go to companies like Mossack Fonseca

acoden a compañías como Mossack Fonseca

and say, "OK, we want an anonymous company,

e din: "Queremos unha empresa anónima. Poden conseguirnos unha?"

can you give us one?"

So you actually get to see the emails,

Daquela pódense ver os correos,

you get to see the exchanges of messages,

o troco de mensaxes,

you get to see the mechanics of how this works,

como funciona este sistema,

how this operates.

como se procede.

Now, this has already started to have pretty immediate repercussions.

Isto comezou a ter repercusións bastante inmediatas.

The Prime Minister of Iceland has resigned.

O primeiro ministro de Islandia dimitiu.

We've also had news

Tamén coñecemos que un aliado do brutal ditador sirio Bashar Al-Assad

that an ally of the brutal Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad

has also got offshore companies.

ten empresas en paraísos fiscais.

There's been allegations of a $2 billion money trail

Houbo denuncias sobre unha pista de 2 mil millóns de dólares

that leads back to President Vladimir Putin of Russia

que sinala ao presidente ruso Vladimir Putin,

por medio dun achegado, amigo da infancia,

via his close childhood friend,

who happens to be a top cellist.

un violonchelista con éxito.

And there will be a lot of rich individuals out there

E haberá centos de adiñeirados así,

and others who will be nervous about the next set of stories

e outros tantos que estarán en tensión

polas próximas historias

and the next set of leaked documents.

e os vindeiros documentos filtrados.

Now, this sounds like the plot of a spy thriller

Si, soa un pouco como a trama dun filme de espías,

or a John Grisham novel.

ou como unha novela de John Grisham.

It seems very distant from you, me, ordinary people.

Parecerache algo moi afastado de ti, de min, da xente corrente.

Why should we care about this?

Por que tería que inquietarnos?

But the truth is that if rich and powerful individuals

Porén, o certo é que se os podentes

are able to keep their money offshore

gardan as súas fortunas en paraísos fiscais

and not pay the taxes that they should,

sen pagar os impostos que deberían,

it means that there is less money for vital public services

entón haberá menos cartos para os servizos públicos fundamentais

like healthcare, education, roads.

como a sanidade, a educación, as estradas.

And that affects all of us.

E isto aféctanos a todos.

Now, for my organization Global Witness,

Agora ben, para a miña organización, Global Witness,

this exposé has been phenomenal.

a exposición pública destes datos foi algo espectacular.

We have the world's media and political leaders

Temos a líderes políticos e a medios de comunicación mundiales

talking about how individuals can use offshore secrecy

a falar sobre o uso que esa xente fai dos paraísos fiscais

to hide and disguise their assets --

co fin de camuflar os seus bens,

something we have been talking about and exposing for a decade.

algo do que se leva divulgado moito dende hai unha década.

Now, I think a lot of people find this entire world baffling and confusing,

Seguro que moitas persoas consideran isto algo impreciso e desconcertante

and hard to understand how this sort of offshore world works.

e cóstalles comprender o funcionamento deste tipo de paraísos fiscais.

I like to think of it a bit like a Russian doll.

A min gústame imaxinalo como as "matrioskas", as bonecas rusas.

So you can have one company stacked inside another company,

Podes ter unha empresa metida noutra,

stacked inside another company,

que á súa vez está dentro doutra,

de xeito que é case imposible saber

making it almost impossible to really understand

quen está realmente detrás desas estruturas.

who is behind these structures.

It can be very difficult for law enforcement

Pode ser moi difícil para as forzas de seguridade

or tax authorities, journalists, civil society

ou para as autoridades tributarias, xornalistas e a sociedade civil,

to really understand what's going on.

comprenderen o que sucede en realidade.

I also think it's interesting

Tamén vexo interesante que haxa menos cobertura sobre o tema nos EE.UU.

that there's been less coverage of this issue in the United States.

And that's perhaps because some prominent US people

E talvez sexa porque non aparecen neste escándalo

just haven't figured in this exposé, in this scandal.

persoas importantes de EE.UU.

Now, that's not because there are no rich Americans

E non é porque non haxa alí adiñeirados

que agochen as súas pertenzas

who are stashing their assets offshore.

en paraísos fiscais.

It's just because of the way in which offshore works,

É simplemente debido á forma en que funcionan.

Mossack Fonseca has fewer American clients.

Mossack Fonseca ten menos clientes estadounidenses.

I think if we saw leaks from the Cayman Islands

Penso que se se filtrase información das Illas Caimán,

or even from Delaware or Wyoming or Nevada,

ou mesmo de Delaware, Wyoming ou Nevada,

you would see many more cases and examples linking back to Americans.

veríanse moitos máis casos e un maior vencello con EE.UU.

In fact, in a number of US states you need less information,

De feito, nalgúns estados

precísase menos información

you need to provide less information to get a company

para crear unha empresa

than you do to get a library card.

que para obter un carné de biblioteca.

That sort of secrecy in America has allowed employees of school districts

Tanta discreción en EE.UU.

permitiulles aos empregados de distritos escolares estafar ao alumnado.

to rip off schoolchildren.

It has allowed scammers to rip off vulnerable investors.

Permitíulles a estafadores timar a inversores vulnerables.

This is the sort of behavior that affects all of us.

Este é o tipo de comportamento que nos afecta a todos.

Now, at Global Witness,

Por iso en Global Witness queriamos ver o que sucedería na práctica.

we wanted to see what this actually looked like in practice.

How does this actually work?

Como funciona en realidade?

So what we did

Así que, o que fixemos foi enviar a un investigador infiltrado

is we sent in an undercover investigator to 13 Manhattan law firms.

a trece bufetes de avogados de Manhattan.

Our investigator posed as an African minister

O noso investigador fíxose pasar por un ministro africano

who wanted to move suspect funds into the United States

que quería mover fondos sospeitosos nos EE.UU.

to buy a house, a yacht, a jet.

para mercar unha casa, un iate, un jet.

Now, what was truly shocking was that all but one of those lawyers

O que realmente nos abraiou foi que todos eles,

todos os avogados excepto un,

provided our investigator with suggestions

lle achegaran suxestións ao noso investigador

sobre como mover eses fondos sospeitosos.

on how to move those suspect funds.

These were all preliminary meetings,

Todo foron reunións preliminares,

and none of the lawyers took us on as a client

e ningún avogado nos tratou como clientes,

and of course no money moved hands,

nin moito menos houbo cartos de por medio,

but it really shows the problem with the system.

pero fainos ver o problema do sistema.

It's also important

Tamén é importante ter en conta que non son casos individuais.

to not just think about this as individual cases.

This is not just about an individual lawyer

Non se trata só dun avogado individual

who's spoken to our undercover investigator and provided suggestions.

que falou co noso infiltrado para darlle solucións.

It's not just about a particular senior politician

Non ten que ver soamente cun político en particular

who's been caught up in a scandal.

cachado nun escándalo.

This is about how a system works,

Trátase dun sistema que funciona así,

that entrenches corruption, tax evasion, poverty and instability.

cheo de corrupción, evasión de impostos, pobreza e inestabilidade.

And in order to tackle this,

E para erradicar isto,

we need to change the game.

precisamos mudar o xogo.

We need to change the rules of the game

Precisamos mudar as regras do xogo,

para dificultar esas condutas.

to make this sort of behavior harder.

This may seem like doom and gloom,

Pode que todo se vexa moi negro,

like there's nothing we can do about it,

como se non puidésemos facer nada,

like nothing has ever changed,

como se nada tivese cambiado,

like there will always be rich and powerful individuals.

como se sempre fora haber individuos ricos e podentes.

But as a natural optimist,

Pero como optimista que son,

I do see that we are starting to get some change.

penso que estamos ante o comezo dun cambio.

Over the last couple of years,

Nestes últimos anos,

we've seen a real push towards greater transparency

vimos un verdadeiro esforzo por acadar unha maior transparencia

when it comes to company ownership.

no que concirne á propiedade das empresas.

This issue was put on the political agenda

Este asunto colocouno na axenda política

o primeiro ministro do Reino Unido, David Cameron,

by the UK Prime Minister David Cameron

at a big G8 Summit that was held in Northern Ireland in 2013.

no gran Cumio do G8, en 2013, en Irlanda do Norte.

And since then, the European Union is going to be creating

Dende aquela, a Unión Europea

comezou a crear rexistros centrais a nivel nacional,

central registers at a national level

of who really owns and controls companies across Europe.

para saber quen posúe e controla as empresas de toda Europa.

One of the things that is sad is that, actually, the US is lagging behind.

O máis triste é que EE.UU estase a quedar distanciado.

There's bipartisan legislation that had been introduced

Introduciuse unha lexislación bipartidista

in the House and the Senate,

na Cámara de Representantes e no Senado,

but it isn't making as much progress as we'd like to see.

que non está a progresar tanto como nos gustaría.

So we'd really want to see the Panama leaks,

O que en realidade nos gustaría ver sería que estes documentos filtrados,

this huge peek into the offshore world,

esa enorme porta ao mundo dos paraísos fiscais,

be used as a way of opening up in the US and around the world.

se utilizasen para desenmascarar todo isto en EE.UU e no resto do mundo.

For us at Global Witness, this is a moment for change.

Para nós en Global Witness, este é un momento de mudanza.

We need ordinary people to get angry

Precisamos que a xente normal se enfade

ao ver como os podentes

at the way in which people can hide their identity

agochan a súa identidade

behind secret companies.

tras empresas secretas.

We need business leaders to stand up and say,

Necesitamos que os dirixentes empresariais

se ergan e digan: "Estes segredos non son bos para os negocios".

"Secrecy like this is not good for business."

We need political leaders to recognize the problem,

Necesitamos que os líderes políticos recoñezan este problema,

e se comprometan a cambiar a lei para destapar este tipo de actuacións.

and to commit to changing the law to open up this sort of secrecy.

Together, we can end the secrecy

Xuntos, podemos rematar con esta opacidade

that is currently allowing tax evasion,

que consente a evasión fiscal,

e que fortalece a corrupción e o branqueo de capitais.

corruption, money laundering to flourish.