Panama reaction

The reactions of society and the authorities of different countries to the publication of the materials of the "Panama archive", as expected, differ.

In France, the National Prosecutor's Office based on the press materials began a preliminary investigation under articles on money laundering and tax evasion. The President of the Republic of Francois Olland thanked the journalists and promised that law enforcement agencies, if found, committed criminal cases.

The British tax service requested the documents of the Panama Archive for its own investigation.

In Iceland, the name of the prime minister of which appears in the Panama Archive, a multi-thousandth demonstration was held with the requirement to hold early elections, the resignation of the office will also be discussed at the nearest meeting of the parliament.

Protest in Reykjavik April 4, 2016 Photo: The Reykjavík Grapevine Picture Gallery

Finally, the Ministry of Justice of the United States promised to check the documents obtained by journalists for evidence of corruption. “So far we are not commenting on these documents. The Ministry of Justice is extremely seriously treated with all the trust in the high level of corruption in foreign states, which may be related to the United States or the American financial system, ”said Peter Carr, spokeswoman for the department.

In general, the authorities of 12 states said about the willingness to conduct an investigation based on the Panama Archive: in addition to the listed by New Zealand, Australia, India, Panama, Austria, the Netherlands, Spain, Venezuela and Ukraine.

With Ukraine, a special story: there President Poroshenko was accused of not refusing to manage a commercial company after he was elected to a public post. In response, lawyers working on Poroshenko explained that the papers on the transfer of the Roshen company to the blind trust were finally formalized in January 2016, so everything complies with local legislation.

In Russia, the official authorities performed as follows. Presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov emphasized that there was nothing in the published investigation that would be directly related to Vladimir Putin-which, in general, is true. “About Putin is nothing concrete and nothing new, there are no details,” Peskov said. At the same time, the Kremlin, assured Peskov, is not going to file lawsuits against journalists, since all publications are built on speculation.

However, then Dmitry Peskov added that in general, all publications around the Panama Archive were made solely with the aim of discrediting the Russian president. “It is obvious that outside the degree of Putinophobia has reached such a level that it is impossible to talk well about Russia, about the successes and actions of Russia cannot be a priori,” Peskov said . He is sure that the leak was made to “kill” positive news about Russia's successes in Syria.

At the same time, in the news broadcasts of state television channels, the Panama Archive is not mentioned at all, as if this is not a topic No. 1 in all world (and Russian) media.

A similar reaction followed the Chinese authorities. The investigations mention Dan Jiagui, who is married to the older sister of the head of the country of Xi Jinping. As follows from the published papers, Dan and his wife own hundreds of millions of dollars invested in real estate, securities and other assets. Other people who are closely related to the country's leadership also appear there. This is a very bad news for Xi Jinping, who made the main “chip” of his rule from the fight against corruption.

As a result, from the Chinese hosting of the Sina Weibo microblogists and the WeChat mobile chat service, the censors delete records that at least somehow affect the Panama Archive.