Panama Papers data set for public release

A journalist group on Monday will release a large swath of documents that are part of the Panama Papers, AFP reported Sunday.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists will release the documents in a searchable database accessible to the public at offshoreleaks.icij.org.

{mosads}The U.S.-based group said the release “will not be a ‘data dump'” like those that gained attention at Wikileaks. But it will reveal names and information about 200,000 offshore entities set up by wealthy people worldwide.

The data came from the digital archives of Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm that specializes in creating and running offshore entities, which it says were hacked.

The law firm on Thursday issued a cease-and-desist order to the journalist group, saying putting up the information publicly would violate attorney-client privilege. But the group says it is important the public be able to see the information.

“We think that information about who owns the company should be public and transparent,” Marina Walker Guevara, deputy director of the consortium, told CNN.