The “Panama Papers” revelation by a group of investigative journalists has shaken the world. Millions of documents leaked from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca show that politicians, business leaders and officials in numerous countries have been avoiding taxes on an industrial scale.
The fallout is already considerable. Questions have been asked in the UK Parliament about the tax affairs of the UK Prime Minister’s father. The Prime Minister of Iceland, faced with huge popular protests, has resigned: there are now calls for the entire government to follow suit. And a $2bn trail of shady financial deals appears to lead directly back to Russia’s President Putin.
Rather less surprising was the revelation that banks, accountants and lawyers have been systematically helping these dignitaries to avoid tax. “What were you expecting?” was the general reaction to the discovery that Swiss banks (including the already embattled HSBC Suisse), French banks and German banks – well, European banks generally, in fact – were in it up to their necks. If banks were hoping that the era of investigation and litigation was coming to an end, they have now been sorely disappointed.
But the finance industry is fighting back. In a statement, Nigel Green, founder and CEO of international financial advisers de Vere Group, disputed that the allegations made in the Panama Papers were in any way representative of the international financial services industry:
The overwhelming majority of the offshore sector only provides services that are fully compliant and legal and they are used by law-abiding clients, who are simply looking for typically better returns, more investment options and greater flexibility.
Mr. Green’s argument is essentially that the Panama Papers are old news. The offshore finance industry has served its time and is now a reformed character:
Many of the documents that have been revealed by the Panama Papers case date back decades. For the last several years a new and totally unprecedented era of transparency and disclosure has been ushered in.
[“Source-forbes”]
