No one knows who "John
Doe," the pseudonym for the person who leaked 11.5 million documents
detailing corporate tax shelters around the world, really is.
The source gave a written statement
to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and the German
newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, the news organisations that led the effort to
analyse and report on the cache of documents.
Doe’s major reason is to ‘Reveal
Corruption’. He/She wants to shed light on why income inequality between the
haves and have-nots of the world has grown, despite countless speeches,
statistical analyses, a few meager protests, and the occasional documentary, according
to the statement.
Doe said that the ability of law firms
and other organisations to hide information on widespread corruption is coming
to an end."We live in a time of inexpensive, limitless digital storage and
fast Internet connections that transcend national boundaries. It does not take
much to connect the dots: From start to finish, inception to global media
distribution, the next revolution will be digitised."
The documents which already have a
wide-reaching effect, brought to limelight how politicians and the super
wealthy hid money in offshore accounts -- which cannot be taxed by governments
or assessed by banking regulators. A slew of high-profile leaders from Nigeria
mentioned will have to face the music.
This comes as the International Consortium of Investigative
Journalists prepares to put online a searchable database of information on more
than 200,000 offshore entities for the public to search. The database will be
available Monday, June 9.
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