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Panama has taken "substantial steps" to tackle tax evasion after last year's leak of millions of documents from offshore law firm Mossack Fonseca revealed the nation's role as a global enabler of illicit financial flows, an international economic body said.
The only serving EU minister named in records leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca failed Tuesday to clear himself from allegations of money laundering during a grilling by a panel of European lawmakers in Malta.
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.
Reports 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 two Tortola-based investigators.
As media organizations prepare to launch a database of records leaked from a Panama City-based company, a top Panamanian official on Thursday reiterated the country's plans to improve its financial transparency.
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.
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.
As national governments still struggle to muster a response to a massive leak of privileged documents, the international groups that direct the global fight against money laundering have remained relatively quiet, and may 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.
