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

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

coming out form the leak
of 11 million documents

from a Panamanian-based law firm
called Mossack Fonseca.

The release of these papers
from Panama

lifts the veil on a tiny piece
of the secretive offshore world.

We get an insight into how
clients and banks and lawyers

go to companies like Mossack Fonseca

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

can you give us one?"

So you actually get to see the emails,

you get to see the exchanges
of messages,

you get to see the mechanics
of how this works,

how this operates.

Now this has already started
to have

pretty immediate repercussions.

The Prime Minister of
Iceland has resigned.

We've also heard news that an ally

of the brutal Syrian dictator
Bashar al-Assad

has also got offshore companies.

There's been allegations
of a 2 billion-dollar money trail

that leads back to
President Vladimir Putin of Russia

via his close childhood friend

who happens to be a top cellist.

And there will be a lot
of rich individuals our there

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

and the next set of leaked documents.

Now, this sounds like the plot
of a spy thriller

or a John Grisham novel.

It seemed very distant from
you and me ordinary people.

Why should we care about this?

But the truth is that if rich
and powerful individuals

are able to keep their money offshore

and not pay the taxes that they should,

it means that there is less money
for vital public services

like healthcare, education, roads,

and that affects all of us.

Now for my organization Global Witness,

this exposé has been phenomenal.

We have the world's media
and political leaders

talking about how individuals can use
offshore secrecy

to hide and disguise their assets,

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