Panama Papers 'secret' to go public on May 9

The "Panama Papers" trove of leaked documents revealing the vast extent of global tax evasion will be made available to the public on May 9, the organisation behind the leak said on Wednesday.

The searchable database will include information about more than 200,000 secret companies, trusts and foundations based in 21 tax havens "from Hong Kong to Nevada in the United States," said the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

Since early April, the ICIJ-coordinated limited release through roughly 100 media outlets of the "Panama Papers" have become a worldwide scandal, spurring numerous investigations and the resignation of Iceland's prime minister and a Spanish minister.

About 11.5 million leaked documents of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, reveal the large-scale use of offshore entities to conceal assets from tax authorities. In its statement, the ICIJ said that the public release next month "is the next step in our ongoing year-long investigation" and that it will continue to publish more stories in the coming weeks and months.