Investigating illicit money flows: From Panama Papers to Pandora Papers. How journalists uncover corruption, tax evasion and conflict of interest

November 5 2021, 5pm CET

Frederik Obermaier in conversation with Michael Hornsby.

 With: Frederik Obermaier (Investigative Journalist, DE) in conversation with Michael Hornsby (Communications Consultant, Anti-Corruption Data Collective, UK/DE)

In 2015, an anonymous whistleblower leaked internal documents of the financial service provider Mossack Fonseca to the journalists Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer from Süddeutsche Zeitung. They launched with the help of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) a worldwide investigation into the secretive world of shell companies. Together with hundreds of colleagues from more than 80 countries they followed the money – the money of prime ministers and the super-rich elite, of organized crime groups, of crooks and of criminals. The Panama Papers exposé led to hundreds of investigations and more than $1.3 billion being recouped by authorities. In 2021, ICIJ released the Pandora Papers, the largest investigation in journalism history which exposes a shadow financial system that benefits the world’s most rich and powerful.

In this Disruptive Fridays edition, we’ll hear more on how to investigate illicit money flows, from the Panama Papers to the Pandora Papers, and discuss how journalists uncover corruption, tax evasion and conflict of interest. The conversation between Frederik Obermaier (Investigative Journalist, DE) and Michael Hornsby (Communications Consultant, Anti-Corruption Data Collective, UK/DE) forms part of our programme series Challenging Corruption: Empowering Future Voices.

Frederik Obermaier is a Pulitzer-Prize winning investigative reporter for the Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany’s leading broadsheet. He is one of the two reporters first contacted by the anonymous source of the Panama Papers, the leaked documents that prompted a global investigation involving hundreds of journalists. He also initiated the Paradise Papers-revelations. Obermaier is member of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, ICIJ.org. Learn more: How the Rich and Powerful Hide Their Money

Michael Hornsby is a communications professional specialising in strategic communications to support sustainable development. Among other roles, he currently serves as a communications consultant to the Anti-Corruption Data Collective, an innovative project bringing together leading journalist, data analysts, academics and policy advocates to expose and undermine corruption. He previously worked for over three years at Transparency International, the global anti-corruption coalition, leading media relations and communications responses to fast-emerging threats to anti-corruption worldwide. He has worked in publishing, media and public relations since graduating from SOAS, University of London, in 2011.

In the programme series Challenging Corruption: Empowering Future Voices (2021-2022), the Disruption Network Lab hosts a series of online workshops connected to public online conversations as part of the Disruptive Fridays series. Together with workshop participants and invited speakers we will reflect on new ways of challenging corruption in our societies, and imagine new tools and solutions together. In the Disruptive Fridays conversations, we will hear more from experts working in four areas of anti-corruption work where we can all see and experience the impact of corruption: environmental damage and the climate crisis; economic inequality, between and within countries; damage to democracy and freedom of expression; and the undermining of public health care systems.

THE PROJECT ‘CHALLENGING CORRUPTION: EMPOWERING FUTURE VOICES’ IS FUNDED BY GIZ (DEUTSCHE GESELLSCHAFT FÜR INTERNATIONALE ZUSAMMENARBEIT) AS COMMISSIONED BY THE GOVERNMENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY.