The German government has reportedly paid for the Panama Papers, the secret files of a Panamanian law firm that helped some of the world's richest people hide their money from tax authorities.

Germany's Federal Criminal Police Agency (BKA) spent 5 Million Euros/AU$7.5 Million to an anonymous source for the papers to get the details on individuals stashing their wealth in offshore tax havens. 

"We now have to investigate in meticulous detail how valuable the data is from a tax perspective," said Hesse state prosecutor Thomas Schafer.  Purchasing the data has been condemned in some circles, but Germany's constitutional court has previously ruled such action is legal in the course of tracking down tax cheats.  Investigators said they are also on the lookout for other criminal offenses, including organized crime and arms trafficking.

The Panama Papers came out last year as a leak to the US-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which shared some of the information with newspapers around the world, beginning with Germany's Suddeutsche Zeitung.  Reporters found the law firm Mossack Fonseca had created some 200,000 shell companies and listed the names of individuals, including politicians, celebrities and athletes, who had hidden their wealth in those companies. 

But aside from initial headlines, fallout from the revelations have so far been minimal.  The Prime Minister of Iceland Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson resigned because of public pressure that followed his appearance in the papers, but prosecutors haven't charged him.  The opposition party of Pakistan brought legal action against Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, but the court ruled there was insufficient evidence.  Presidents Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine and Mauricio Macri of Argentina simply denied any wrongdoing when their names popped up. 

Some investigations continue, some are just about to get off the ground.