New offshore data prompt anti-graft calls
Japan says it plans proposal at G-7 summit this month
Japan's government spokesman said Tuesday that Tokyo plans to propose an action plan for combating graft at the summit of the Group of Seven rich industrial economies later this month in Ise, Japan.
That follows various moves by other countries to investigate or tighten oversight of such financial dealings following the first release last month of information from what has been dubbed the Panama Papers.
D.S. Malik, a spokesman for India's Finance Ministry, said Tuesday that India's income tax authorities have sent notices to all citizens listed in the database and would investigate each case based on their replies.
The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists made the fresh data on 200,000 entities available on its website Monday.
The database contains basic corporate information about companies, trusts and foundations set up in 21 jurisdictions, including Hong Kong and Nevada. The data were obtained from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, which said it was hacked. Users can search the data and see the networks involving the offshore companies, including, where available, Mossack Fonseca's internal records of the true owners.
The ICIJ said it put the information online “in the public interest,” noting that a mention on the list does not imply wrongdoing.
Mossack Fonseca said last week it had sent a cease-and-desist letter to the ICIJ urging the organization not to publish the database, on the grounds it was “based on the theft of confidential information.”
Shell companies can be employed to evade taxes or to launder earnings from bribery, embezzlement and other illicit activity.
The database has revealed how some tiny countries in the South Pacific have been favored as places to set up offshore trusts.
More than 13,000 offshore companies and trusts were set up in Samoa and nearly 10,000 in Niue, which has a population of 1,200, it says. Some trusts are no longer operational.
More than 500 entities are listed under the jurisdiction of the Cook Islands, population 10,000.
The initial release of the data cache, first leaked to Germany's Sueddeutsche Zeitung daily, showed offshore holdings of 12 current and former world leaders. Sueddeutsche Zeitung says it was given the information by an anonymous source.
Yoshihide Suga, Japan's chief cabinet secretary, said Tuesday that as host of the May 26-27 G-7 summit, Japan hopes to include proposals for combating tax evasion, such as increasing disclosure requirements, in an attachment to the leaders' joint declaration at the event's close.
Ecuador's attorney general, Galo Chiriboga, said Monday he planned to propose a joint investigation into possible wrongdoing when he meets with his Panamanian counterpart later this month. Ecuadorians named in the leak include the attorney general, a former president of the central bank and a former member of the national intelligence service.
Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela said his country would share information and cooperate with other jurisdictions.
Citing reporting credited to consortium partners McClatchy Newspapers, the Portland Business Journal and Fusion Investigates, the ICIJ said Monday that Mossack Fonseca had files on dozens of Americans who have faced accusations of civil or criminal financial misconduct.