Netflix, the streaming giant turned original content studio, is to make a film based on the account of the Panama Papers written by two German journalists at the centre of the biggest data leak in history, the Guardian reports.

The company has acquired exclusive rights to The Panama Papers: Breaking the Story of How the World’s Rich and Powerful Hide Their Money, the recently published book by Frederik Obermaier and Bastian Obermayer. The pair, who work for Munich-based Süddeutsche Zeitung, a subscription daily newspaper, were the only journalists to have direct access to the anonymous source who leaked the 11.5m documents from the Panama-based company Mossack Fonseca, one of the world’s biggest offshore law firms.

The documents revealed how many of the super-rich employ legal, labyrinthine accounting systems to avoid taxation. Obermaier and Obermayer gave them to the International Consortium of Journalists – including those from the BBC and the Guardian, who analysed the data and reported its evidence. Such access to the central duo is what Netflix hopes will give their film the edge over other projects on the subject in the pipeline, including an adaptation by Steven Soderbergh  of Secrecy World, the book by investigative reporter Jake Bernstein, one of the consortium.

“This is probably the most important political story of recent times,” Netflix Chief Content Office Ted Sarandos told the Guardian, “so I imagine there will be many different stories and angles to come from it. We think ours will be the definitive take.”

No director, writer or cast have yet been revealed, but Netflix’s Panama Papers film will be overseen by John Wells Productions, the production vehicle of writer, producer and director John Wells. Last year Wells directed Burnt, starring Bradley Cooper as a volatile chef; other recent films include Beach Boys biopic Love & Mercy and August: Osage County, based on Tracy Letts’s play.

Minister Konrad Mizzi and OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri were both mentioned in the Panama Papers after they secretly opened companies in Panama.