Monday, April 4, 2016

Massive Worldwide Fallout Over the #PanamaPapers

More on the offshore tax haven revelations, at USA Today, "Worldwide fallout continues over Panama Papers":
The massive, anonymous leak Sunday of more than 11 million documents belonging to a law firm in Panama — Mossack Fonseca — that detail how powerful people hid their wealth reveals suspected cases of money laundering, sanctions evasion and tax avoidance.

Here's what you need to know:

Denials from world leaders are rolling out.

Iceland's prime minister, Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, faces a no-confidence vote later Monday for allegations in the documents that he deliberately hid holdings in Icelandic banks. Gunnlaugsson denies any wrongdoing and said on Icelandic television he would not resign.

News reports allege that Gunnlaughsson and his wife established a company in the British Virgin Islands with the help of Mossack Fonseca.

In Russia, the government said President Vladimir Putin has not committed a crime.

While Putin's name does not appear on any of the records published, the paper trail does show that many of his associates and close friends — including musician Sergei Roldugin, godfather to his daughter Maria and the man who introduced him to his wife, Lyudmilla — made millions from deals that would have been hard to make without Putin's knowledge.

Dmitry Peskov, Putin's spokesman, told Russian news agency Interfax that it was "obvious" the aim of the release of the documents was to undermine the president ahead of parliamentary elections expected in September...
More.

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