1150万份文件实锤中共顶层海外资产网：巴拿马文件曝光始末 20251219【新闻大写】

At the end of 2025, a long-brewing piece of legislation finally stepped onto the stage Section 6704 of the U.S. Fiscal Year 2026 National Defense Authorization Act Under this provision, within one year of the law taking effect the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, together with the State Department, must release another detailed public report

the U.S. Director of National Intelligence, together with the State Department, must release another detailed public report exposing CCP top leaders and their family members or proxies and a list of assets they hold overseas The targets are crystal clear: the CCP General Secretary, current Politburo Standing Committee members, and the entire Politburo That said, this isn’t the first time Americans have played the “expose their wealth” card A similar provision already appeared in the FY2023 defense bill

calling for a deep dive into Xi Jinping and a whole lineup of senior officials’ family assets covering 205 Central Committee members, 25 Politburo members, and 29 provincial- and ministerial-level officials The intelligence community later submitted a report in March 2024 but the public version contained basically nothing new It was like Ma Baoguo throwing a punch at Director Wang leaving onlookers awkwardly forced to play along with a polite “oh, wow”

By contrast, the earth-shattering leak from ten years ago was the real deal, a true milestone dumping 11.5 million raw files straight in front of the entire world company registration records, shareholder and director lists, passport copies, bank emails, authorization letters, and more The Panama Papers yanked the black box of the offshore financial system completely into the open The evidence chain was clear and airtight

dragging in the families of Xi Jinping, Li Peng, Jia Qinglin, Wen Jiabao, Deng Xiaoping, and others the absolute top tier of CCP elites Clue after clue, like hidden threads ran through the British Virgin Islands, Hong Kong, Liechtenstein, Swiss banks, and layers of shell structures all laid bare before the world Hello everyone, I’m Zhang Gousheng, and today we’re going to talk about the Panama Papers that once shocked the world and the CCP elite families they exposed

along with the many clues pointing to their hidden overseas wealth Long live the Emperor, long live, long long live Long live the Emperor, long live, long long live Report! Your Majesty, there’s good news!

Report! Your Majesty, there’s good news!

Did you not wake up properly this morning? You looking to die?

Since when did I have “good news”?

This humble servant deserves death — I meant good news, as in an event Your anti-corruption campaign is about to succeed!

Oh? Has someone finally survived long enough to file a petition?

No, it’s that Panama just released a massive pile of documents saying it’s full of corrupt Chinese officials We can finally bring these socialist termites to justice!

Brother-in-law… Is this aimed at me?

That time my wife got exposed Father-in-law, hurry up and save me No, this kid can’t be left alive What did you just say again?

Panama released a bunch of documents No, not that — the line before Your anti-corruption campaign is about to succeed No, one more line before that This humble servant deserves death Yes, yes, that’s the one — guards!

Drag this bastard out and feed him to the dogs Hey, wait, isn’t that just a stock phrase?

General Secretary, please give me another chance It all began with an anonymous message Late one night in 2014, Süddeutsche Zeitung investigative reporter Bastian Obermayer suddenly received a private message “Interested in confidential data?”

The sender didn’t reveal their identity Obermayer stared at the screen As a veteran investigative journalist he instantly sensed that a major scoop might be knocking on his door In the exchanges that followed the source hinted they possessed massive internal files from a mysterious offshore law firm and hoped the media would bring these hidden fortunes into the light From that point on, the anonymous source began using encrypted channels to steadily funnel data to him

The whistleblower’s only demand was anonymity — nothing else no money, no fame, no credit It didn’t take long for Obermayer to realize he was staring at a data gold mine The files came from a Panamanian law firm called Mossack Fonseca a firm that specialized in registering shell companies and offshore trusts offering one-stop financial invisibility services with business networks spanning dozens of countries

The data handed to journalists totaled a staggering 11.5 million files, weighing in at 2.6 terabytes the largest data leak in history covering just about everything imaginable company registrations, shareholder lists, passport scans, bank correspondence as if the entire offshore financial world’s black box had been cracked open at once Obermayer could hardly believe his eyes A leak of this scale, if proven true, would be utterly explosive

Not long after handing over the files the anonymous source published a long essay explaining their motives They wrote that income inequality is one of the defining issues of our time that vast amounts of unjust wealth are hidden behind offshore accounts, fueling social injustice while ordinary people are left to pay the price They stressed they were not a spy for any government and had received no instructions

but after seeing the sheer scale of injustice in the files, decided they had to act The statement was filled with anger toward global elite corruption and a firm belief in exposing the truth and seeking justice while also taking a subtle jab at the major media outlets that initially ignored the tip It turned out that before contacting Obermayer, the source had tried reaching multiple international media outlets and even WikiLeaks but got no response

Fortunately, this time they found the right person Back then, there was no “Director Wang slams the table” yet If you have any tips or leaks to share with us, please email us We take every tip seriously Faced with such an overwhelming volume of material Obermayer knew full well this was far beyond what a single newsroom could handle He immediately reached out to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, ICIJ, based in Washington

ICIJ quickly assembled more than 400 journalists from over 100 media outlets across 76 countries forming a highly confidential task force The team included The Guardian from the UK, the Miami Herald from the US, El País from Spain, and Germany’s ARD and it even included journalists from China Every participant signed strict confidentiality agreements For security, they set up an encrypted database and forum accessible only to invited reporters where members could exchange findings and share leads

Time moved into 2015 Over the course of nearly a year, this massive journalistic alliance split up and worked in parallel analyzing tens of millions of files, digging shareholders out of registration records, and hunting clues in email trails Whenever someone uncovered something new, they’d post the news in the online forum One day, a message suddenly popped up in the chat: Guys we’ve found Xi Jinping’s brother-in-law — the group instantly exploded

At the same time, journalists in different countries each reeled in major figures from their own backyards Some zeroed in on money-laundering networks tied to close friends of Russian President Putin Others uncovered offshore trusts linked to the family of UK Prime Minister David Cameron and some spotted the name of Iceland’s prime minister right there in the files The China team also gradually locked onto a long list of CCP “red aristocrat” families That’s when everyone realized

these materials had essentially formed a global offshore address book of modern elites, spanning political and business powerhouses worldwide ICIJ gave the project a codename: the Panama Papers When it came to the China-related portion, reporters ran into plenty of obstacles Most tax-haven registration systems don’t accept Chinese characters Company and personal names all appeared in English spellings Confirming Chinese identities was like searching for a needle in the ocean For example, surnames like “Zhang” or “Zhong”

can vary wildly between Mandarin and Cantonese spellings, making misidentification easy Fortunately, the files often included ID numbers, addresses, and other details that helped pin people down In the end, close relatives of multiple CCP Politburo Standing Committee members were confirmed in the Panama Papers implicating many families from the very top of the CCP power structure since Reform and Opening Even the most seasoned international reporters never expected that so many families tied to China’s highest leadership

would surface simultaneously in a single offshore leak Within ICIJ’s China project team, Caijing magazine sent deputy editor-in-chief Luo Changping and others to join the early investigation They contributed numerous leads on Chinese companies and individuals and drafted in-depth reports But the good times didn’t last. In early 2016, with just two months left before global publication Luo Changping was suddenly removed from his position Shortly after, Caijing’s editor-in-chief sent an encrypted email to ICIJ revealing

that China’s state security authorities had intervened and ordered the magazine to withdraw from the collaboration Clearly, word had leaked — the CCP had sensed danger ahead of time ICIJ had no choice but to immediately cut off Caijing’s access to the database This episode cast a shadow over the upcoming release of the Panama Papers The CCP authorities appeared to be bracing for impact Despite the setbacks, the global journalistic alliance did not stop

After months of intense work, on the night of April 3, 2016 the first wave of Panama Papers investigations was published simultaneously by major media outlets worldwide From Iceland’s prime minister to Argentina’s president, and all the way to China’s top leadership countless powerful figures were swept in, and the curtain officially rose Once the Panama Papers went public, the names of CCP elite families surfaced one after another

According to ICIJ’s analysis, Hong Kong and mainland China had long been Mossack Fonseca’s hottest markets The leaked files showed that clients from China and Hong Kong were linked to as many as 40,000 offshore companies accounting for roughly one-third of all offshore entities registered by the firm As of the end of 2015, Mossack was still collecting management fees from over 16,300 offshore companies registered through its Hong Kong and China offices

These companies made up 29 percent of its active offshore entities worldwide making Greater China the firm’s single largest market This Panamanian law firm even opened eight offices across Greater China Its Hong Kong branch was among the busiest in its global network It had entered Hong Kong as early as 1989 and moved into mainland China in 2000, setting up its first office in Shenzhen

After that, it expanded to Ningbo, Qingdao, Dalian, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Nanjing, Jinan, and other cities And now, as the tide recedes, the offshore vaults of the powerful are being exposed one by one ICIJ’s report covers nearly half of the CCP’s top power elite since Reform and Opening Next, we peel back these hidden wealth networks one by one First up is the Xi Jinping family

What was exposed were three shell companies linked to Xi Jinping’s brother-in-law As the husband of Xi’s sister, Qi Qiaoqiao Deng Jiagui had already obtained a British Virgin Islands shell company through Mossack Fonseca back in 2004 It had a rather grand-sounding name: Supreme Victory Enterprises Limited literally, “Supreme Victory Company” Later, in 2009, he used a Hong Kong identity to register two more BVI offshore companies

One was called Wealth Ming International Limited which roughly translates to “Prosperous Bright International” The other was called Best Effect Enterprises Limited basically “Super Effective Enterprises” All of these company names were clearly chosen for good luck According to the leaked files, Deng Jiagui was the sole director and shareholder of both BVI companies The couple had amassed considerable wealth early on through real estate and mining investments According to an investigative report published by Bloomberg on June 29, 2012

the business assets controlled by Deng Jiagui and his wife Qi Qiaoqiao included an 18 percent stake in Jiangxi Rare Earth & Rare Metals Tungsten Group which at the time had total assets valued at roughly 1.73 billion U.S. dollars

plus assets at Shenzhen Yuanwei Investment Co. totaling about 373 million U.S. dollars

Around 2012, just as Xi Jinping was about to take power Deng Jiagui and his wife began quietly pulling out, gradually transferring assets under their names Wang Jianlin once revealed in a speech that Deng Jiagui had transferred all his Wanda shares two months before Wanda’s IPO He even said that Mr. Deng had sacrificed enormous financial interests According to corporate registry records, as early as October 2013 Qi Qiaoqiao had quietly transferred her stake in Beijing Qinchuan Dadi Co.

to an old subordinate, Xu Zaisheng, who had worked with them for 13 years a proactive disappearing act meant to ease public pressure as her elder brother rose to power Yet even though Deng Jiagui appeared to have washed his hands of business the Panama Papers still left traces — those two BVI shell companies weren’t closed until 2011 One small detail: Mossack Fonseca’s files did not flag Deng Jiagui as a politically exposed person

Without this leak, few would have ever noticed China’s “first brother-in-law” Caixin later quoted Wang Jianlin as saying in its reporting that Xi Jinping governs the country strictly — and runs his family even more strictly meaning that before taking office, Xi imposed strict rules on his family to clean up interest transfers That article was quickly taken down but it indirectly confirmed that Xi did intend to stop his family from doing business before he came to power

Still, compared with some elite families holding tens or even hundreds of billions of dollars overseas the Xi family’s few hundred million dollars really doesn’t count as much and so far there is no evidence that these assets were obtained illegally or that they have any direct connection to Xi Jinping’s own household To this day, no overseas assets linked to Xi, his wife, or his daughter have ever surfaced Next up is the Jia Qinglin family

This time, the family of former CPPCC chairman Jia Qinglin delivered a double hit His son-in-law Li Botan and his granddaughter Li Zidan both appeared on the list offering a rare glimpse into the family wealth of a man who once ranked fourth in the CCP hierarchy Li Botan is the husband of Jia Qinglin’s only daughter, Jia Qiang A man of considerable means, he was revealed to have held an offshore company registered in the BVI early on

called Fengcheng Development Limited Even more eye-catching was his daughter, Jia Qinglin’s granddaughter, Li Zidan This third-generation red elite was only 19 years old and a freshman at Stanford University yet she was already the sole shareholder of two BVI shell companies According to investigations by The Guardian and ICIJ, just months after she enrolled, in December 2010 two companies — Harvest Sun Trading Limited

and Xin Shen Investments Limited were registered under her name What’s even more striking is that Harvest Sun’s original shareholder wasn’t Li Zidan at all but a 57-year-old Hong Kong tycoon with no apparent connection to her, watch magnate Zhang Yuping Zhang Yuping, head of Hong Kong’s Hengdeli watch group, was extremely wealthy After holding Harvest Sun for more than a year

he symbolically transferred the company in full to Li Zidan for one dollar at the end of 2010 Zhang’s lawyer later explained that the company had no assets at the time of transfer, and his client had no relationship with Ms. Li it was simply introduced through a business contact to save her the trouble of registering a new shell company After the transfer, Li Zidan used the two BVI companies as shareholders

to set up at least two investment management firms in Beijing with a combined registered capital of about 200,000 pounds Because BVI companies were used as shareholders Li Zidan’s surname did not appear in the domestic company registration records Next comes the Wen Jiabao family The Panama Papers also contained names linked to Wen Jiabao’s family Wen Jiabao long cultivated a plain, populist image, often saying he was the son of a farmer

Yet as early as 2012, The New York Times published an investigation revealing that the Wen family accumulated at least 2.7 billion dollars in wealth during his tenure One example alone was an investment held in the name of his mother, then in her 90s a Ping An Insurance stake worth about 120 million dollars in 2007 The news caused a global uproar Now the Panama Papers provided further circumstantial evidence

The leaked files showed the names of Wen Jiabao’s son, Wen Yunsong, and his son-in-law, Liu Chunhang both appearing on offshore company lists Wen Yunsong, with assistance from Credit Suisse, set up a BVI company As a member of the red princeling class, Wen Yunsong leveraging family background for business opportunities was hardly a secret His firm New Horizon Capital acquired and invested in stakes across energy and financial companies at home and abroad with a vast business footprint

This leak exposed his BVI company dealing yet another blow to the clean image Wen Jiabao had carefully cultivated When faced with public scrutiny, the Wen family did not fall completely silent like other red families Wen’s wife, Zhang Peili, even made the rare move of issuing a statement through lawyers denying media reports about the family’s wealth claiming the family held no improper economic interests But these explanations failed to calm the controversy

In Shen Dong’s book Red Roulette, it was revealed that the Wen family’s use of proxies to amass wealth far exceeded what outsiders had known Shen Dong disclosed that he and his ex-wife Duan Weihong, a close friend and proxy for the Wen family helped conceal利益 in major projects on the family’s behalf Through their connections, Zhang Peili secured a 30 percent carried interest in China’s largest air cargo hub project near Beijing Capital Airport

without the Wen family putting up a single cent Duan Weihong rose to prominence precisely by investing in Ping An Insurance on the Wen family’s behalf Beyond the Ping An deal this airport logistics project was arguably the Wen family’s largest transaction Zhang Peili pulled off a classic “something for nothing,” pocketing massive profits In the book, Shen Dong also offered some mitigation for Wen Jiabao himself saying Wen Jiabao was initially unaware of Zhang Peili’s external business dealings

and that she carried them out without his knowledge Later, Wen may have sensed something was wrong and expressed dissatisfaction, even raising the possibility of divorce All signs suggest that behind this self-styled clean prime minister stood a vast family network quietly accumulating wealth There is also the family of former Chinese premier Li Peng Li Peng’s daughter, Li Xiaolin, long known for her lavish and high-profile lifestyle, was already famous earning her the nickname “China’s power queen”

The Panama Papers show that as early as 1994, she used intermediaries to register a BVI company called Cofic Investments Limited The company was later placed into a secret fund structure in Liechtenstein Cofic’s directors were two partners from a Geneva law firm while its shareholder was a mysterious Liechtenstein foundation Fondation Silo, whose ultimate beneficiaries were Li Xiaolin and her husband

To further conceal ownership, Li Xiaolin also used bearer shares as a clever tool meaning the original shares were issued in bearer form whoever held the share certificates was the company’s owner Bearer shares have long been viewed as tools for money laundering and illicit transactions and are now banned or restricted in many countries Mossack Fonseca’s files show that Cofic was later placed under the control of a Liechtenstein foundation

allowing Li Xiaolin and her husband to indirectly hold Cofic through the foundation, achieving double concealment Even when the BVI financial regulator in 2015 demanded Mossack disclose Cofic’s true beneficial owner, Mossack went through multiple layers only determining through the Geneva law firm that the real owner was Li Xiaolin With a foundation, an offshore company, and bearer shares — three layers of protection Li Xiaolin hid her wealth extremely well One interesting detail in this exposure

is that when registering offshore companies, Li Xiaolin used a Hong Kong passport and wrote her name as Xiaolin Liu-Li, combining her married and maiden surnames most likely to further obscure ties to the Li Peng family Beyond the current top leadership The Panama Papers also confirmed a long-closed chapter of elite scandal proving that rumors about the Bo family’s overseas assets were far from baseless

As early as around 2000, Bo Xilai’s wife Gu Kailai had already found her first proxy a French businessman named Patrick Devilliers who was personally close to Gu Kailai Through Mossack Fonseca’s competitor, Trident Trust, he registered a shell company in the BVI named Russell Properties Limited Soon after, Dalian tycoon Xu Ming entered the picture

This well-connected businessman wired 3.2 million dollars into Russell Properties’ account claiming it was for buying shares in a foreign steel plant, but in reality it was a利益 transfer Under the guise of investment, Xu Ming funneled a huge sum into an overseas account controlled by Gu Kailai In return, he gained access to a prime land development project in Dalian while Gu Kailai pocketed the money

and bought a luxury villa on the French Riviera, with six bedrooms and hundreds of square meters of space By 2007, Bo Xilai was transferred to Chongqing and Gu Kailai recruited a second proxy, British businessman Neil Heywood Like Bo Guagua, he had studied at Harrow School and had long done business in China He was responsible for taking care of Bo Xilai’s son Bo Guagua’s studies and life in the UK

Harrow’s annual tuition was 30,000 pounds, while Bo Xilai’s salary at the time was only about 12,000 pounds In August 2011, Gu Kailai decided to switch the registered agent of Russell Properties from Trident Trust to the more trusted Mossack Fonseca Around this time, Gu Kailai and Heywood’s relationship sharply deteriorated The two fell out over a business deal It turned out Heywood and Gu Kailai had jointly invested in a 200-million-dollar UK real estate project

After Bo Xilai learned of it, he feared it would expose them and damage his career, and forced Gu to pull out Heywood felt his investment had gone down the drain and demanded 20 million dollars in compensation Gu Kailai naturally refused, and the two sides broke completely What followed is well known Heywood died abroad The Bo couple’s scandal exploded into a nationwide political earthquake Patrick Devilliers was briefly detained in Cambodia and later released unharmed

Xu Ming, meanwhile, died suddenly under mysterious circumstances in prison in 2015 China’s offshore mystery thus became a muddled, unfinished account That said, not everyone denied having offshore companies For example, Hu Dehua, the second son of former CCP General Secretary Hu Yaobang Hu Yaobang was known for his integrity, and his son Hu Dehua has done business for many years The files show he also owned a BVI offshore company After the Panama Papers were exposed

Hu Dehua was one of the very few who stepped forward voluntarily to admit and explain In an interview with Hong Kong’s Ming Pao, he frankly acknowledged the facts and explained the purpose of setting up the company He said it was mainly used to help a tech firm pursue a Hong Kong IPO They initially planned to do some import-export business; after the IPO failed, the company was left idle

It undergoes annual compliance checks, holds no assets, and has no real operations Hu Dehua said calmly that registering an offshore company was aboveboard and involved no illegal income His response may not have convinced everyone, but his attitude clearly differed from other elite relatives Why do this year’s financial numbers look so awful? If this gets released, I’ll lose all face Huning, can we tweak the numbers a bit?

It’s not that I won’t tweak them, General Secretary The other day CCTV did a food-delivery segment about “seeing the scenery” and got roasted to death If I say “we’ve totally won” again, no one’s buying it anymore Looks like the chives have grown a brain People down below can barely afford to eat Even without brains, they know what hunger feels like

Forget it, it’s already year-end, nothing we say will fix it Same as the past two years Go pick two names from the Panama Papers list and count them into the GDP Two? Isn’t that a bit much? We usually only pick one

Two? Isn’t that a bit much? We usually only pick one It’s fine, losses are bigger this year — no one will notice GDP growth is basically riding on these “pillars of the nation” In early April 2016, the Panama Papers investigations swept global headlines Iceland’s prime minister Gunnlaugsson was exposed for hiding offshore assets Mass protests erupted, forcing him to resign

UK Prime Minister David Cameron, after his late father’s offshore trust was revealed had to publicly admit he once held shares in it Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif saw his family’s offshore accounts investigated by the Supreme Court and he too was ultimately forced from office But China — which topped the global list in exposed elites seemed to erect an invisible wall overnight completely blocking the storm from getting inside

While foreign media flooded the airwaves, mainland China’s major portals stayed silent Netizens searching Baidu only saw a cold, standard notice “According to relevant laws, regulations, and policies, some results are not displayed” On social media, keywords like “Panama” and “offshore” instantly became sensitive terms Even harmless words like “documents” or “brother-in-law” got caught up due to homophones

People inside the firewall felt cut off from the world, seeing only a handful of carefully diluted reports As for how official media should respond, that became a delicate operation On April 5, 2016, Global Times published an editorial titled “Those Who Stole or Fabricated the Panama Papers Are No Ordinary Players” Hu Xijin was still editor-in-chief, and the article immediately framed the leak hinting it was a Western intelligence plot

a new tactic by a Western ideological alliance to target non-Western political elites In classic “Old Hu” style, the piece wrote “So many fragmented materials, yet a clear political direction from the start — that’s worth pondering” The editorial also said from an intelligence perspective, real materials are often mixed with fake ones which the media then dig out and amplify a massive data leak makes such “precision strikes” possible

The implication being that among 11.5 million files, who knows how many were planted — a Western smear campaign at work But the final line of the editorial spread the widest “Anyone capable of stealing or fabricating 11.5 million files is certainly no ordinary force” Ordinary people would be exhausted just trying to fight such a power painting the leak as a colossal force beyond the reach of normal citizens

Who that truly unchallengeable behemoth is, Old Hu probably knows best himself Tragically, just hours after this video went online, it was suddenly taken down across major platforms Perhaps propaganda authorities realized the framing backfired — better to ban it outright From then on, Chinese media almost never mentioned the Panama Papers, playing dead as a group Students, you’ve worked hard. Today is decision day — the day you choose your school

Just tell the Sorting Hat your preference in a moment You’re facing the wrong way — turn this way I want to make money ruthlessly, with zero conscience Then you should go to the CCP Party School branch What if I want to be a thug and bully people?

Still the CCP Party School branch, then What if I want to benefit the world?

Then go to the U.S.— uh, wait, Trump is president now Then go to Russia Huh? Can Russia benefit the world?

Huh? Can Russia benefit the world?

No, but reincarnation is very efficient over there Save those lofty ideals for your next life After April 2016, the noise around the Panama Papers gradually faded In China, it was as if the storm had never happened Not a single official was held accountable Not one domestic media outlet kept digging And there was no public oversight at all — life went on, calm and peaceful Globally, however, the aftershocks of the leak lasted for years

The Panama Papers triggered investigations and reform demands in many countries The EU tightened anti–money laundering rules, and the UK, New Zealand, and others closed offshore loopholes Some tax havens also pledged greater transparency Political systems in multiple countries were shaken As mentioned earlier — Iceland, Pakistan, even Malaysia saw top leaders step down or face investigations The event became a milestone in the history of global anti-corruption and financial regulation

In public memory, the Panama Papers became synonymous with the secret black box of elite wealth For the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, however this was anything but a happy ending The year after the exposure, Mossack was forced to shut down Its founders, Jürgen Mossack and Ramón Fonseca, were arrested and charged in Panama and later released on bail Bigger trouble came from international justice

Multiple countries launched criminal investigations into Mossack Fonseca for aiding money laundering and tax evasion The U.S., Germany, and others also prosecuted some of the firm’s staff and clients

The U.S., Germany, and others also prosecuted some of the firm’s staff and clients Then came the twist in a long legal battle In June 2024, a Panamanian court suddenly ruled that all 28 defendants, including Mossack and Fonseca, were acquitted The presiding judge, Baloisa Marquinez, announced that all individuals accused of helping set up offshore companies for bribery and money laundering would face no liability and all restrictions would be lifted

The reason was that key electronic evidence namely the data from Mossack Fonseca’s servers was deemed inadmissible due to procedural flaws in evidence collection Ironically, these were the very files journalists used to expose the truth but in court they were thrown out for broken chains of custody, letting all suspects walk free Just one month before the verdict, co-founder Ramón Fonseca died of illness The other founder, Jürgen Mossack, is now well into his seventies

Eight years of prosecution ending in nothing left many observers deeply disappointed After the ruling, ICIJ released a statement with executive director Gerard Ryle saying that although the court did not hold the defendants accountable, the impact of the investigation lives on The Panama Papers revealed the truth behind hidden wealth and empowered the public to demand accountability and reform

So what happened to the CCP elite families exposed back then in our country?

Most of them suffered no real consequences Li Peng has been dead for years, while Li Xiaolin faded from public view into the wealthy elite Jia Qinglin enjoys his retirement, and his granddaughter Li Zidan remains active in finance and investment Zeng Qinghong’s younger relatives still move effortlessly between politics and business The only real change is that CCP elites have grown far more cautious — and better at hiding wealth They no longer put direct relatives in the spotlight

instead relying on more discreet cross-border trusts deeper layers of ownership structures and more distant proxies to manage assets One can safely predict that after the Panama Papers these red families only buried their wealth deeper and more secretly leaving no easy leverage for outsiders The story comes full circle: Section 6704 in the U.S. is about to take effect American intelligence agencies are gearing up to gossip about CCP elites’ family fortunes for the whole world

On paper, the requirement sounds shocking almost like publishing a full list of every top CCP leader’s private stash including assets held through proxies by their relatives But on closer thought, Section 6704 may not be that lethal Much of the report will still rely on existing leaks and traditional intelligence methods like the Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Swiss bank leaks, and so on which have already provided many clues

Of course, U.S. intelligence has other channels such as monitoring global financial networks and tracking suspicious capital flows But fully mapping every hidden dollar of every CCP official is no easy task After years of scandals, red families have long upgraded their concealment techniques They favor cross-border trusts and highly layered ownership structures with shell companies stacked several layers deep sometimes even using relatives or close friends who have foreign citizenship

Even the CIA, powerful as it is, can’t possibly trace every thread let alone obtain ironclad proof and make it public And even if an intelligence report lists some assets Beijing can simply wave the “fake news” flag and deny it all Just as Chinese state media did with the Panama Papers branding them foreign smears In the end, there’s noise outside the wall and calm inside — parallel realities And exposing wealth is not the same as sanctioning it

Section 6704 does not authorize asset freezes or confiscation — it just names names Even if the U.S. or the West later wants to act on that information, they lack a clear legal hook At least on the surface, it’s hard to prove that the money is illegal And don’t forget why this wealth can hide so safely it relies on gray zones in the international financial system and to a large extent, on tacit Western tolerance and assistance

Major banks and law firms set up shells and tax shelters for elites in exchange for fees Governments often turn a blind eye to dirty money flowing into their own systems Put bluntly, the West itself is hardly spotless Not long after the 2016 Panama Papers leak The Economist even mocked that the world’s largest tax haven is actually the United States with Delaware, Nevada, and others offering anonymous company services no different from the Caymans

Against this backdrop of double standards, the U.S. going after CCP elites’ money… may not actually have that much moral high ground In a world jointly woven by power and capital the truth does not walk onto the stage by itself It needs someone willing to reach into the black box first even if they get cut in the process It needs someone to carry stacks of documents line after line of names

out of sealed rooms and into the sunlight even if what follows is pursuit, smears, threats, and enforced silence The anonymous have no names, but they carry weight Journalists are just ordinary people who still choose to stand in the crosswinds asking one more question on behalf of the world: why They know this is not a romantic adventure and yet they still press send still stay hunched over their desks until dawn still refuse to blink under immense pressure

So when we talk about the Panama Papers about elite offshore vaults and ever more sophisticated hiding techniques don’t forget to also look toward those who refuse to make peace with the darkness Provisions can be reduced to bargaining chips Exposés can be endlessly repurposed by power Storms can even be blocked and pushed back out to sea But once the truth is handed forward it’s like a spark dropped into the human world

It may not become a blaze at once, but it tells those who follow that night is not destiny and silence is not the only choice Salute to all who dare to uncover the truth Because of you, the world has not been fully tamed by lies and the shadow of power will, at some moment even if only briefly, reveal its true shape May those who pass the truth forward in the dark never be easily forgotten