The Panama government asked a group of investigative journalists to avoid staining its reputation with a new expose on financial secrecy within offshore tax havens, Panama America news website reported.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) said the publication, called Pandora Papers in reference to the 2016 Panama Papers scandal, was based on a leak of 11.9 million files. The ICIJ said more than 600 reporters in 117 countries took part in the investigation that covered every corner of the globe. The Pandora Papers are expected to be published at 16:30 GMT on Sunday.
“The government of Panama is determined to act so that this lie is not repeated by the ICIJ or other means of communication,” a letter addressed to the ICIJ by a US law firm representing Panama read.
The letter remarked that media referring to an earlier leak as “Panama Papers” damaged the country’s reputation.
The new leak comes five years after the Central American nation was hit by the prize-winning Panama Papers reveal that exposed shady secrets of the offshore finance industry. It showed how Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm, sold thousands of shell companies to clients around the globe.
