What are Panama Papers

The Panama Papers leak took the world by storm earlier this week. With global and influential figures being named in a list of people with offshore accounts in a possible tax evasion bid, the 11.5 million documents investigated has made headlines all over.
What are Panama Papers
Panama Papers are leaked documents from a Panama law firm - Mossack Fonseca, which has offices in 35 countries. The Panama Papers involve 11.5 million documents involving 214,000 offshore entities covering a time period between 1977 and 2015.The Panama Papers reveal names of 140 political figures from 50 countries with links to offshore accounts. These include 12 current or former heads of state as well as sportspersons, administrators and 29 billionaires from the Forbes rich list.
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Panama Papers - How to hide money from law
Who leaked Panama Papers
According to International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a source reached out to the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung late 2014. He said his data added up to 2.6 terabytes, a 100 times bigger than Wikileaks' Cablegate, and enough to fill 600 DVDs.
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Why were Panama Papers leaked
How do Panama Papers point to crimes

Offshore accounts and shell companies are among the methods used to conceal the ownership of assets.
The shadowy financial dealings exposed in the leaks are not in themselves illegal but the ICIJ said the leaks show how "dark money flows through the global financial system, breeding crime and stripping national treasuries of tax revenues".
There is little wonder then that the entire controversy has intrigued many and perhaps confused many more.
To further explain, a Reddit user put up an 'Explain Like I'm 5' (ELI5) post that has since gone viral.
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Infographic - Indians on the list

ELI5 is exactly what it sounds like - how you would explain a certain thing to a five-year-old. So how do you explain secret banking, offshore accounts and tax evasion to a five-year-old?
Reddit user DanGliesack did so with a simple analogy - piggy banks.
Here's how DanGliesack explained the Panama Papers leak to five-year-olds:
When you get a quarter you put it in the piggy bank. The piggy bank is on a shelf in your closet. Your mom knows this and she checks on it every once in a while, so she knows when you put more money in or spend it.
Now one day, you might decide "I don't want mom to look at my money." So you go over to Johnny's house with an extra piggy bank that you're going to keep in his room. You write your name on it and put it in his closet. Johnny's mom is always very busy, so she never has time to check on his piggy bank. So you can keep yours there and it will stay a secret.
Now all the kids in the neighborhood think this is a good idea, and everyone goes to Johnny's house with extra piggy banks. Now Johnny's closet is full of piggy banks from everyone in the neighborhood.
One day, Johnny's mom comes home and sees all the piggy banks. She gets very mad and calls everyone's parents to let them know.
Now not everyone did this for a bad reason. Eric's older brother always steals from his piggy bank, so he just wanted a better hiding spot. Timmy wanted to save up to buy his mom a birthday present without her knowing. Sammy just did it because he thought it was fun. But many kids did do it for a bad reason. Jacob was stealing people's lunch money and didn't want his parents to figure it out. Michael was stealing money from his mom's purse. Fat Bobby's parents put him on a diet, and didn't want them to figure out when he was buying candy.
Now in real life, many very important people were just caught hiding their piggy banks at Johnny's house in Panama. Today their moms all found out. Pretty soon, we'll know more about which of these important people were doing it for bad reasons and which were doing it for good reasons. But almost everyone is in trouble regardless, because it's against the rules to keep secrets no matter what.