Tax evasion, money laundering probes launched globally

London

PROSECUTORS and ministers in the US, Germany, France, Spain, the Netherlands, Austria, Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and other nations have launched investigations into alleged tax evasion and money laundering in Panama. The data leak, claimed to be computer hacking rather than disclosure from an internal source, illustrates how certain corporations and rich and powerful individuals, including leaders and senior politicians, use tax havens to hide their wealth.

Those who have been outed claim that they needed Panama for privacy and that their advisers had set up legal tax avoidance schemes. Prosecutors, tax inspectors and other investigators, however, want to establish whether the money funnelled through numerous global banks could be tax evasion or money laundering. Two cited banks, HSBC and Credit Suisse, have vigorously denied wrongdoing.