A Maltese journalist, Matthew Caruana Galizia, is part of a team working for the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) on the Panama Papers who has been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for explanatory reporting.

The announcement was made yesterday by Columbia University.

The Pulitzer Prize Board lauded the year-long investigation for “using a collaboration of more than 300 reporters on six continents to expose the hidden infrastructure and global scale of offshore tax havens.”

The award is the latest in a series of accolades for the globe-spanning reporting effort by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, McClatchy, the Miami Herald, Süddeutsche Zeitung and other media partners.

“This honor is a testament to the enterprise and teamwork of our staff and our partners here in the United States and around the world,” Gerard Ryle, ICIJ’s director, said. “We’re honored that the Pulitzer Board recognized the groundbreaking revelations and worldwide impact that the Panama Papers collaboration produced.”

The Panama Papers investigation exposed offshore companies linked to more than 140 politicians in more than 50 countries – including 14 current or former world leaders. It also uncovered offshore hideaways tied to mega-banks, corporate bribery scandals, drug kingpins, Syria’s air war on its own citizens and a network of people close to Russian President Vladimir Putin that shuffled as much as $2 billion around the world.

The Panama Papers also uncovered how No Portfolio Minister Konrad Mizzi and OPM chief of staff Keith Schembri had secretly opened companies in Panama.

The Malta Independent is a partner of ICIJ.