News
Panama Papers Highlight Need for Lesser Known Secrecy Havens to Reform: BVI Investigators
printReports last month alleging widespread misuse of shell companies linked to Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca have drawn undue criticism of the British Virgin Islands, according to Anthony McClements and Craig Allam, two investigators with Tortola-based Martin Kenney & Co. The jurisdiction, which has been linked to the purchase of over 20,000 U.K. properties by foreign buyers, has stronger recordkeeping requirements for companies than the United States and other nations, according to the pair, who both previously served as British law enforcement officials in multiple agencies. McClements and Allam recently spoke to reporter Larissa Bernardes about how the reports, known...
TO READ THE FULL STORY
Related News
The British government has rejected calls by lawmakers to impose more-stringent corporate transparency standards on U.K. overseas territories and dependencies, claiming that the jurisdictions are already "well ahead" of other international tax havens.
Variances in data-protection rules from country to country are impeding EU investigations of politicos with secret offshore holdings as documented by the Panama Papers, European lawmakers heard Thursday.
U.S. investigations of third parties that facilitate money laundering for career criminals are expected to rise in the wake of the Panama Papers disclosures and a broader push for corporate transparency.
EU parliamentarians on Thursday detailed plans to investigate purported supervisory failures that allowed some of Europe's largest banks to create thousands of shell companies for clients holding suspect funds offshore.
More than a week after media allegations of widespread abuse of shell companies, banks are scrambling to determine what ties they have to the Panamanian law firm at the center of the scandal.
The Panama Papers are justifiably grabbing headlines. But it's important to step back and have a little perspective: the use of shell companies for tax evasion, the proceeds of corruption and other crimes detailed in the papers are outrageous, but sadly nothing new.
Facing criticism over his late father's offshore holdings, U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron outlined plans on Monday asked parliamentarians to make it easier to prosecute companies that aid tax dodgers.
With national governments this week mustering responses to a massive leak of privileged documents, the international groups that direct the global fight against money laundering have remained relatively quiet, and could stay so.
The leak of millions of records purporting to show widespread exploitation of offshore financial centers by global leaders, lenders and criminals is expected to draw governmental scrutiny of illicit finance, however unevenly.