PP published in public interest

BERLIN: The editor of the German newspaper that broke the Panama Papers story said on Monday he did not know exactly where his team’s source got the information but defended his decision to publish on the basis of the public interest.

Wolfgang Krach, co-editor-in-chief of the Sueddeutsche Zeitung, said a source who introduced themselves as "John Doe" contacted the paper a year ago and with an offer of encrypted internal documents from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.

Sueddeutsche, realising the sheer number of documents to be scrutinised, began working with a consortium of other media organisations before publishing the Panama Papers story that has shone a light on the financial schemes of the world’s elite.

"We don’t know how this source came upon the information," Krach told Reuters by telephone from his office in Munich. "Mossack Fonseca say themselves ‘we were hacked’ - I don’t know if that is the case. I can’t confirm that.

"The head of Mossack Fonseca has denied any wrongdoing, and said his firm has fallen victim to "an international campaign against privacy".