From the Miami Herald
Panama Papers investigation helps recover more than $1.1 billion around the world
The Panama Papers: Victims of offshore
On the third anniversary of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists-led investigation, which included the Miami Herald and McClatchy’s Washington Bureau, the fallout from it is gathering pace through hundreds of separate investigations into undisclosed wealth across scores of nations.
Since June 2018, the United Kingdom alone has added $119 million, to bring its total to more than $252 million; Australia has collected another $43 million to eclipse $92 million; and Belgium has added an extra $6.5 million to its government coffers to surpass $18 million. French tax authorities have confirmed nearly $136 million has now been recovered — and that figure is expected to rise. They have carried out more than 500 inspections since April 2016.
Canada’s Revenue Agency, which also raided two properties last week in connection to the investigation, has revealed it had recouped nearly $6.8 million in federal taxes and fines from 66 audits. The agency said it planned to audit about 234 more taxpayers linked to the probe. Fewer than 10 criminal investigations are ongoing.
And in Panama, authorities have clawed back more than $14 million in the past three years. Investigations are continuing in numerous countries, including Austria (where regulators are examining whether two major banks followed procedures to prevent money laundering), Germany, France and Norway.
The files, which were leaked to Süddeutsche Zeitung, came from a little-known but powerful law firm based in Panama, Mossack Fonseca, that had branches in Hong Kong, Miami, Zurich and more than 35 other places around the globe.
The first American charged in relation to the Panama Papers, Richard Gaffey, 74, a Massachusetts accountant, is due to be tried in October for conspiracy to commit tax evasion, money laundering and wire fraud. He has pleaded not guilty.
In late 2018, criminal charges were laid against Bulgarians Nikolay and Evgeniya Banevi over the Panama Papers. Detained in Nice, France, then extradited to jail in Bulgaria, they face money-laundering and tax charges.
There are also at least seven people in jail in Ecuador, one minister, three managers and some contractors, in relation to the Petroecuador bribery scheme, reported by El Universo.
And just last month, a former South Korean army general and a former executive of a major defense manufacturer were indicted on bribery charges stemming from a multimillion-dollar case based on reporting by ICIJ’s local partner, Newstapa.
The Real Tally
The $1 billion-plus Panama Papers’ tally almost certainly understates total revenue raised as a result of the Panama Papers given that many countries do not disclose information on tax settlements.In Poland, the task force set up after the Panama Papers has operated in secret. “It did not provide media with any kind of results, even off the record,” ICIJ’s Polish partner, Vadim Makarenko, told ICIJ.
In Argentina, ICIJ’s partner said citizens were now paying taxes on $104 million disclosed under a tax amnesty, while in Colombia, recouped tax reportedly soared after wealthy citizens began disclosing their true wealth.
And in Finland, authorities said they expect to recover between $1 million and $2 million in taxes thanks to the Panama Papers and Paradise Papers, ICIJ’s 2017 investigation into the offshore world, combined. Finnish Tax Authorities told ICIJ’s partner Yle that these cases take a long time to investigate and often involved the work of multiple governments from across the world.
Lim said: “Although Korea’s National Tax Service announced that it has recouped considerable amounts of tax after investigating companies and individuals depicted in Newstapa’s Panama Papers stories, they declined to disclose the exact amount, stating that it is confidential taxpayer personal information.”
Taxing mindsets
While recouping the proceeds of hidden assets helps to fund vital government services, there is a growing sentiment that the enduring legacy of the Panama Papers will be its effect on behavior and public attitudes.Niger ICIJ member and founder and editor in chief of the L’Evenement newspaper Moussa Aksar views the Panama Papers as a game-changer.
Aksar said: “Today people in West Africa pay lots of attention when they do something and when they make a transaction. They say to themselves, ‘There could be someone, somewhere working with ICIJ or another organization who will investigate this.’
“They don’t cheat like they used to. They know that sooner or later they will be found out.”
Although many of the methods of evading tax detailed in the Panama Papers were legal, their use has since been widely condemned in the court of public opinion.
University of Leeds Professor of Tax Law Rita de la Feria says the Panama Papers changed public sentiment toward taxation itself — and a failure to pay a fair share of tax is no longer considered a victimless crime.
De la Feria said: “Before the Panama Papers there was a public tolerance, a kind of ‘good for you’ attitude toward anyone who could avoid paying their fair share of tax.
“The Panama Papers has helped to shift this perception to one of ‘you’re robbing us of public services.’
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