Offshore
Massive Panama Accounts Leak: How Countries, Banks Are Reacting
The unfolding saga of leaks of Panama-based accounts has prompted a variety of responses from countries and organisations. China has reportedly clamped down on media coverage.
The massive leak of accounts from Panama over offshore accounts,
which has already become a major scandal and embarrassment for a
number of countries, also highlights tensions between
certain countries.
A report by Reuters says that China, for example, has
moved to limit local access to coverage of the matter with state
media denouncing Western reporting on the leak as biased against
non-Western leaders.
The leak of some 11.5 million documents came from Mossack
Foneseca, naming 23 individuals with sanctions imposed on them
for backing regimes in Zimbabwe, Russia, North Korea, Iran and
Syria. Mossack Fonseca has denied wrongdoing and said offshore
companies of the sort it creates are offered for a range of
legitimate purposes.
Among those named in the "Panama Papers" are friends of Russian
President Vladimir Putin and relatives of the leaders of China,
Britain, Iceland and Pakistan, and the president of Ukraine.
Regulators in a number of jurisdictions, such as at the US
Deparment of Justice, and authorities in Australia and New
Zealand, have started to review the reports, created by the
Washington DC-based International Consortium of Investigative
Journalists (ICIJ) and other media groups.
Bank dismissals
Credit Suisse and HSBC have rejected suggestions they were
actively using offshore structures to help clients cheat on their
taxes. Both were named among the banks that helped set up complex
structures that make it hard for tax collectors and investigators
to track the flow of money from one place to another, according
to ICIJ, reports said.
Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam, who is aggressively targeting
Asia's wealthiest for growth, said his bank was only after lawful
assets. He was speaking at a media briefing in Hong Kong.
The saga has also led to calls for the prime minister of Iceland
to call an election - an equivalent of a vote of no confidence.
The financial affairs of Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson and his
wife have come under scrutiny from the affair.