[On April 3, 2016 we saw the largest data leak in history.] [The Panama Papers exposed rich and powerful people] [hiding vast amounts of money in offshore accounts.] [What does this mean?] [We called Robert Palmer of Global Witness to explain.]
[O 3 de abril de 2016, vemos a maior filtración de datos da historia. Os "papeis de Panamá" expoñen a xente rica e poderosa que ocultou grandes cantidades de diñeiro en paraísos fiscais. Que significa isto? Robert Palmer, de Global Witness, explícanolo].
This week, there have been a whole slew and deluge of stories coming out from 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, "OK, 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.
Esta semana houbo unha avalancha de historias por mor da filtración de 11 millóns de documentos provenientes do bufete de avogados Mossack Fonseca, con sede en Panamá. A información sobre estes documentos deixa ao descuberto unha pequena parte do mundo secreto dos paraísos fiscais. Móstranos o xeito en que clientes, bancos e avogados acoden a compañías como Mossack Fonseca e din: "Queremos unha empresa anónima. Poden conseguirnos unha?" Daquela pódense ver os correos, o troco de mensaxes, como funciona este sistema, como se procede.
Now, this has already started to have pretty immediate repercussions. The Prime Minister of Iceland has resigned. We've also had 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 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 out there and others who will be nervous about the next set of stories and the next set of leaked documents.
Isto comezou a ter repercusións bastante inmediatas. O primeiro ministro de Islandia dimitiu. Tamén coñecemos que un aliado do brutal ditador sirio Bashar Al-Assad ten empresas en paraísos fiscais. Houbo denuncias sobre unha pista de 2 mil millóns de dólares que sinala ao presidente ruso Vladimir Putin, por medio dun achegado, amigo da infancia, un violonchelista con éxito. E haberá centos de adiñeirados así, e outros tantos que estarán en tensión polas próximas historias e os vindeiros documentos filtrados.
Now, this sounds like the plot of a spy thriller or a John Grisham novel. It seems very distant from you, 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.
Si, soa un pouco como a trama dun filme de espías, ou como unha novela de John Grisham. Parecerache algo moi afastado de ti, de min, da xente corrente. Por que tería que inquietarnos? Porén, o certo é que se os podentes gardan as súas fortunas en paraísos fiscais sen pagar os impostos que deberían, entón haberá menos cartos para os servizos públicos fundamentais como a sanidade, a educación, as estradas. E isto aféctanos a todos.
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.
Agora ben, para a miña organización, Global Witness, a exposición pública destes datos foi algo espectacular. Temos a líderes políticos e a medios de comunicación mundiales a falar sobre o uso que esa xente fai dos paraísos fiscais co fin de camuflar os seus bens, 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, and hard to understand how this sort of offshore world works. I like to think of it a bit like a Russian doll. So you can have one company stacked inside another company, stacked inside another company, making it almost impossible to really understand who is behind these structures. It can be very difficult for law enforcement or tax authorities, journalists, civil society to really understand what's going on.
Seguro que moitas persoas consideran isto algo impreciso e desconcertante e cóstalles comprender o funcionamento deste tipo de paraísos fiscais. A min gústame imaxinalo como as "matrioskas", as bonecas rusas. Podes ter unha empresa metida noutra, que á súa vez está dentro doutra, de xeito que é case imposible saber quen está realmente detrás desas estruturas. Pode ser moi difícil para as forzas de seguridade ou para as autoridades tributarias, xornalistas e a sociedade civil, comprenderen o que sucede en realidade.
I also think it's interesting that there's been less coverage of this issue in the United States. And that's perhaps because some prominent US people just haven't figured in this exposé, in this scandal. Now, that's not because there are no rich Americans who are stashing their assets offshore. It's just because of the way in which offshore works, Mossack Fonseca has fewer American clients. I think if we saw leaks from the Cayman Islands or even from Delaware or Wyoming or Nevada, you would see many more cases and examples linking back to Americans.
Tamén vexo interesante que haxa menos cobertura sobre o tema nos EE.UU. E talvez sexa porque non aparecen neste escándalo persoas importantes de EE.UU. E non é porque non haxa alí adiñeirados que agochen as súas pertenzas en paraísos fiscais. É simplemente debido á forma en que funcionan. Mossack Fonseca ten menos clientes estadounidenses. Penso que se se filtrase información das Illas Caimán, ou mesmo de Delaware, Wyoming ou Nevada, veríanse moitos máis casos e un maior vencello con EE.UU.
In fact, in a number of US states you need less information, you need to provide less information to get a company
De feito, nalgúns estados precísase menos información
than you do to get a library card. That sort of secrecy in America has allowed employees of school districts to rip off schoolchildren. It has allowed scammers to rip off vulnerable investors. This is the sort of behavior that affects all of us.
para crear unha empresa que para obter un carné de biblioteca. Tanta discreción en EE.UU. permitiulles aos empregados de distritos escolares estafar ao alumnado. Permitíulles a estafadores timar a inversores vulnerables. Este é o tipo de comportamento que nos afecta a todos.
Now, at Global Witness, we wanted to see what this actually looked like in practice. How does this actually work? So what we did is we sent in an undercover investigator to 13 Manhattan law firms. Our investigator posed as an African minister who wanted to move suspect funds into the United States to buy a house, a yacht, a jet. Now, what was truly shocking was that all but one of those lawyers provided our investigator with suggestions on how to move those suspect funds. These were all preliminary meetings, and none of the lawyers took us on as a client and of course no money moved hands, but it really shows the problem with the system.
Por iso en Global Witness queriamos ver o que sucedería na práctica. Como funciona en realidade? Así que, o que fixemos foi enviar a un investigador infiltrado a trece bufetes de avogados de Manhattan. O noso investigador fíxose pasar por un ministro africano que quería mover fondos sospeitosos nos EE.UU. para mercar unha casa, un iate, un jet. O que realmente nos abraiou foi que todos eles, todos os avogados excepto un, lle achegaran suxestións ao noso investigador sobre como mover eses fondos sospeitosos. Todo foron reunións preliminares, e ningún avogado nos tratou como clientes, nin moito menos houbo cartos de por medio, pero fainos ver o problema do sistema.
It's also important to not just think about this as individual cases. This is not just about an individual lawyer who's spoken to our undercover investigator and provided suggestions. It's not just about a particular senior politician who's been caught up in a scandal. This is about how a system works, that entrenches corruption, tax evasion, poverty and instability. And in order to tackle this, we need to change the game. We need to change the rules of the game to make this sort of behavior harder.
Tamén é importante ter en conta que non son casos individuais. Non se trata só dun avogado individual que falou co noso infiltrado para darlle solucións. Non ten que ver soamente cun político en particular cachado nun escándalo. Trátase dun sistema que funciona así, cheo de corrupción, evasión de impostos, pobreza e inestabilidade. E para erradicar isto, precisamos mudar o xogo. Precisamos mudar as regras do xogo, para dificultar esas condutas.
This may seem like doom and gloom, like there's nothing we can do about it, like nothing has ever changed, like there will always be rich and powerful individuals. But as a natural optimist, I do see that we are starting to get some change.
Pode que todo se vexa moi negro, como se non puidésemos facer nada, como se nada tivese cambiado, como se sempre fora haber individuos ricos e podentes. Pero como optimista que son, penso que estamos ante o comezo dun cambio.
Over the last couple of years, we've seen a real push towards greater transparency when it comes to company ownership. This issue was put on the political agenda by the UK Prime Minister David Cameron at a big G8 Summit that was held in Northern Ireland in 2013. And since then, the European Union is going to be creating central registers at a national level of who really owns and controls companies across Europe.
Nestes últimos anos, vimos un verdadeiro esforzo por acadar unha maior transparencia no que concirne á propiedade das empresas. Este asunto colocouno na axenda política o primeiro ministro do Reino Unido, David Cameron, no gran Cumio do G8, en 2013, en Irlanda do Norte. Dende aquela, a Unión Europea comezou a crear rexistros centrais a nivel nacional, 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. There's bipartisan legislation that had been introduced in the House and the Senate, but it isn't making as much progress as we'd like to see. So we'd really want to see the Panama leaks, this huge peek into the offshore world, be used as a way of opening up in the US and around the world.
O máis triste é que EE.UU estase a quedar distanciado. Introduciuse unha lexislación bipartidista na Cámara de Representantes e no Senado, que non está a progresar tanto como nos gustaría. O que en realidade nos gustaría ver sería que estes documentos filtrados, esa enorme porta ao mundo dos paraísos fiscais, 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. We need ordinary people to get angry at the way in which people can hide their identity behind secret companies. We need business leaders to stand up and say, "Secrecy like this is not good for business." We need political leaders to recognize the problem, and to commit to changing the law to open up this sort of secrecy.
Para nós en Global Witness, este é un momento de mudanza. Precisamos que a xente normal se enfade ao ver como os podentes agochan a súa identidade tras empresas secretas. Necesitamos que os dirixentes empresariais se ergan e digan: "Estes segredos non son bos para os negocios". Necesitamos que os líderes políticos recoñezan este problema, e se comprometan a cambiar a lei para destapar este tipo de actuacións.
Together, we can end the secrecy that is currently allowing tax evasion, corruption, money laundering to flourish.
Xuntos, podemos rematar con esta opacidade que consente a evasión fiscal, e que fortalece a corrupción e o branqueo de capitais.