The European Union has threatened to impose sanctions on Panama and other tax havens if they do not cooperate fully in fighting money laundering and tax evasion.
Pierre Moscovici, European Commissioner for Economic and Financial Affairs, Taxation and Customers, criticised countries like Panama that facilitated the setting up of such secretive and low-tax accounts.
Referring to the Panama Papers leak which showed that the small country still remains a key destination for those who wished to hide their money, Moscovici said: “People are fed up with these outages. The amounts of money, the jurisdictions and the names associated with this affair are frankly shocking.”
Panama is listed by the EU as a country that is not cooperative on tax issues, Associated Press reported. Moscovici urged the country to “rethink its position in this regard.”
He said that the EU has to “be ready to hit them with appropriate sanctions if they refuse to change.” However, the Central American country has offered to cooperate more. On 6 April, President Carlos Varela announced the establishment of an international committee of experts to recommend ways to boost transparency in Panama’s offshore financial industry. – IB Times.
