2016年4月3日 我们看到史上最大的数据泄露
[On April 3, 2016 we saw the largest data leak in history.]
巴拿马文件揭露了许多富人、官员
[The Panama Papers exposed rich and powerful people]
藏匿大量未曝光的海外资产
[hiding vast amounts of money in offshore accounts.]
这意味着什么？
[What does this mean?]
我们邀请了来自全球见证组织的罗伯特·帕尔默为我们说明
[We called Robert Palmer of Global Witness to explain.]
这周有一千一百万的文件 从一个叫莫萨克·冯赛卡
This week, there have been a whole slew and deluge of stories
的巴拿马的律师事务所泄露出来
coming out from the leak of 11 million documents
使得背后大量不为人知的故事被公之于众
from a Panamanian-based law firm called Mossack Fonseca.
之前发表的这些文件揭开了
The release of these papers from Panama lifts the veil on a tiny piece
离岸注册公司的神秘面纱
of the secretive offshore world.
我们得以深入了解客户、银行和律师们
We get an insight into how clients and banks and lawyers
是如何找上像莫萨克·冯赛卡这样的公司
go to companies like Mossack Fonseca
并对他们说我们想要一个匿名公司
and say, “OK, we want an anonymous company,
你能帮我们搞一个吗？
can you give us one?”
我们可以真切地看到了那些电子邮件
So you actually get to see the emails,
那些信件往来
you get to see the exchanges of messages,
以及这个系统是如何运作
you get to see the mechanics of how this works,
如何维持的
how this operates.
至今此事已经产生了不小的反响
Now, this has already started to have pretty immediate repercussions.
冰岛总理宣布辞职
The Prime Minister of Iceland has resigned.
我们还得到消息称
We’ve also had news
残暴的叙利亚独裁者巴沙尔·阿萨德的一个盟友
that an ally of the brutal Syrian dictator Bashar Al-Assad
也拥有境外公司
has also got offshore companies.
还有证据表明 一笔二十亿美元的资金流
There’s been allegations of a $2 billion money trail
通过一个儿时密友 回流给俄罗斯总统
that leads back to President Vladimir Putin of Russia
弗拉基米尔·普京
via his close childhood friend,
他的儿时朋友后来变成一位顶尖的大提琴家
who happens to be a top cellist.
仍有很多未被公开财产的富人
And there will be a lot of rich individuals out there
对事情下一步的发展和下一批泄露的文件
and others who will be nervous about the next set of stories
感到十分恐慌
and the next set of leaked documents.
现在这听起来很像谍报惊悚片
Now, this sounds like the plot of a spy thriller
或是约翰·格里森姆的小说中的情节
or a John Grisham novel.
这似乎离你我这样的普通人的生活很远
It seems very distant from you, me, ordinary people.
我们为什么要关心这些呢？
Why should we care about this?
但事实上如果有钱有势的人们
But the truth is that if rich and powerful individuals
能够把他们的财产离岸保管
are able to keep their money offshore
逃避他们本应支付的税款
and not pay the taxes that they should,
也就意味着用于重要的公共服务的资金将变得更少
it means that there is less money for vital public services
如医疗、教育、道路维修
like healthcare, education, roads.
这会影响我们所有人
And that affects all of us.
对于我所在的全球见证组织来说
Now, for my organization Global Witness,
这次爆料的影响是十分惊人的
this exposé has been phenomenal.
世界各地的媒体和政治头目
We have the world’s media and political leaders
都在谈论个人如何利用海外庇护所
talking about how individuals can use offshore secrecy
来隐藏和伪装他们的资产
to hide and disguise their assets —
这也是我们在过去的十年一直谈论和揭发的
something we have been talking about and exposing for a decade.
我想很多人都认为这个世界太复杂、太难懂
Now, I think a lot of people find this entire world baffling and confusing,
也很理解这种海外世界是怎么运行的
and hard to understand how this sort of offshore world works.
我喜欢将其比作俄罗斯套娃
I like to think of it a bit like a Russian doll.
你可以将一个公司套在另一个里
So you can have one company stacked inside another company,
再套在另一个里
stacked inside another company,
让人几乎不可能分辨出
making it almost impossible to really understand
真正藏在背后的人是谁
who is behind these structures.
这对于律师事务所、税务局、
It can be very difficult for law enforcement
媒体记者和整个社会来说
or tax authorities, journalists, civil society
理解这其中发生了什么都是很困难的
to really understand what’s going on.
我觉得很有意思的是
I also think it’s interesting
这次事件并没有涉及很多的美国人
that there’s been less coverage of this issue in the United States.
这可能是因为一些有钱有势的美国人
And that’s perhaps because some prominent US people
还没在这次揭露和丑闻中被发现
just haven’t figured in this exposé, in this scandal.
并不是因为那些有钱的美国人
Now, that’s not because there are no rich Americans
没有将财产转到海外
who are stashing their assets offshore.
只是因为他们的这种运作方式
It’s just because of the way in which offshore works,
使得莫萨克·冯赛卡的美国客户不多
Mossack Fonseca has fewer American clients.
我相信如果我们能看到从开曼群岛
I think if we saw leaks from the Cayman Islands
或者甚至特拉华州、怀俄明州或者内华达州
or even from Delaware or Wyoming or Nevada,
泄露出的文件将会有大量美国的案件被牵扯出来
you would see many more cases and examples linking back to Americans.
实际上在美国的很多州
In fact, in a number of US states you need less information,
你成立一个公司所需要提供的资料
you need to provide less information to get a company
比办一张图书借阅卡所需的还要少
than you do to get a library card.
这种美国的信息漏洞让学区的员工
That sort of secrecy in America has allowed employees of school districts
可以剥削小学生
to rip off schoolchildren.
使得骗子们剥削易上当的投资者
It has allowed scammers to rip off vulnerable investors.
这种行为会影响我们每一个人
This is the sort of behavior that affects all of us.
现在我们全球见证组织
Now, at Global Witness,
想要耐心的去看看它到底发生了什么
we wanted to see what this actually looked like in practice.
以及是如何运作的
How does this actually work?
所以我们所做的就是
So what we did
将一位便衣调查员送到13家曼哈顿的律师事务所
is we sent in an undercover investigator to 13 Manhattan law firms.
我们的调查员化装成一名
Our investigator posed as an African minister
想要将一笔来路不明的资金转到美国的非洲高官
who wanted to move suspect funds into the United States
来购买一栋房子、一艘游艇和一架喷气飞机
to buy a house, a yacht, a jet.
随后让我们震惊的是
Now, what was truly shocking was that all but one of those lawyers
除了一位律师以外其他所有律师都为我们的调查员
provided our investigator with suggestions
提供了如何转移可疑资金的建议
on how to move those suspect funds.
这只是初来乍到的会面
These were all preliminary meetings,
没有一位律师把我们视为委托人来办案
and none of the lawyers took us on as a client
自然也没有钱转手
and of course no money moved hands,
但它仍然说明了这个系统的一些问题
but it really shows the problem with the system.
值得注意的是
It’s also important
我们不能只把它看成一起个案
to not just think about this as individual cases.
这不仅仅是一位律师
This is not just about an individual lawyer
向我们的调查员提供了建议
who’s spoken to our undercover investigator and provided suggestions.
这不仅仅是某位特定的官员
It’s not just about a particular senior politician
被爆出丑闻
who’s been caught up in a scandal.
这代表了整个系统的运作方式：
This is about how a system works,
根深蒂固的腐败、逃税、贫困还有基础的薄弱
that entrenches corruption, tax evasion, poverty and instability.
想要改善这一切
And in order to tackle this,
我们需要改变游戏
we need to change the game.
改变游戏的规则
We need to change the rules of the game
让这样的行为难以实现
to make this sort of behavior harder.
看起来似乎前景黯淡
This may seem like doom and gloom,
好像我们没有什么能做的
like there’s nothing we can do about it,
好像一切都没有变过
like nothing has ever changed,
好像永远都会有有钱有势的人
like there will always be rich and powerful individuals.
但作为一个天生的乐观主义者
But as a natural optimist,
我能看到人们是在改变的
I do see that we are starting to get some change.
过去的这几年里
Over the last couple of years,
我们见证了民众对公司所有权
we’ve seen a real push towards greater transparency
的透明度问题上施加的更大压力
when it comes to company ownership.
这个问题被英国首相戴维·卡梅伦
This issue was put on the political agenda
在2013年北爱尔兰举办的
by the UK Prime Minister David Cameron
八国峰会上提上了政治议程
at a big G8 Summit that was held in Northern Ireland in 2013.
从那以后欧盟开始实行
And since then, the European Union is going to be creating
国家级的中央注册中心
central registers at a national level
来管理拥有和控制着欧洲的各个公司的人
of who really owns and controls companies across Europe.
但令人难过的是美国一直没有动作
One of the things that is sad is that, actually, the US is lagging behind.
两党的立法被
There’s bipartisan legislation that had been introduced
众议院和参议院审议
in the House and the Senate,
但却没有达到我们希望看到的效果
but it isn’t making as much progress as we’d like to see.
所以我们十分愿意看到巴拿马泄露这样的事情发生
So we’d really want to see the Panama leaks,
让我们对离岸世界有了更深入的了解
this huge peek into the offshore world,
对美国和整个世界来说都是一个新的公开方式
be used as a way of opening up in the US and around the world.
对于在全球见证组织的我们来说 这是一个值得纪念的改变的时刻
For us at Global Witness, this is a moment for change.
我们需要普通百姓的愤而起身
We need ordinary people to get angry
抵制这些用地下公司
at the way in which people can hide their identity
来隐瞒身份的人
behind secret companies.
我们需要商业领袖愤起而呼：
We need business leaders to stand up and say,
这样的地下活动是被商业所摒弃的
“Secrecy like this is not good for business.”
我们需要政治首领意识到这个问题的严重性
We need political leaders to recognize the problem,
立志要改变法律将这类恶性公之于众
and to commit to changing the law to open up this sort of secrecy.
团结一心我们就可以结束这不为人知的罪行
Together, we can end the secrecy
结束这些愈演愈烈的
that is currently allowing tax evasion,
逃税、腐败和洗钱活动
corruption, money laundering to flourish.