investigative reporter at germany's leading newspaper, the munich-based suddeutsche zeitung. he is co-author of the book, "panama papers: the story of a worldwide revelation" just released today in germany. and with us in new york, michael hudson, senior editor at the international consortium of investigative journalists or icij, which published the panana papers. this is democracy now! we will be back with them in a moment. ♪ [music break] amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy y goodman. we are talking about the biggest leak in the history of nato journalism that just went live, -- data journalism that just went live. that is what edward snowden tweeted about the panama papers. the papers reveal how the rich and powerful in numerous countries use tax havens to hide their wealth, some 11 point finally and files were really from one of the world's most secretive offshore companies, mossack fonseca, a law firm based in panama. the documents were obtained by "panama papers: the story of a worldwide revelation." -- were obtained by sudde

stunning revelations coming out of panama, documents initially leaked to a german newspaper, "suddeutsche zeitung which gave unprecedented insights into how and where the world's rich and powerful stash their cash. as i said, panama is the focus of the latest revelations, and one panama-based company is at the heart of the scandal, mossack fonseca. it is called and stands accused of offering tax evasasion and money launundering facilities to tens of thousands of clients. they apparently include members of the global political elite,e, the rich, and the superrich. there are sports stars, too. and there are criminals, including arms traders, drug barons, and terrorists. so on the show today, we will be discussing the question the panama papers, how dirty is the hidden money? to answer that question, i am joined by three excellent observers and journalists. i like to introduce them to you, beginning with max heywood, from transparency international, who sasays, "we have heardrd too may empty promises before. governments now have to take real action and make the ownership of all companies public." al