EU Parliament forms Mossack Fonseca Commission
THE WORLDWIDE activities of one secretive law firm continue to cast a shadow over Panama, and a decision by the European Parliament to set up a commission of inquiry will ensure that the cloud will not disappear any time soon.
The Parliament in a plenary sessions on Wednesday June 8 endorsed the creation of a commission to investigate the activities of the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.
A large majority of deputies participating in the plenary session of the parliament spoke in favor of creating the committee.
It will be composed of 65 members and they will have 12 months to present their findings.
This commission “will investigate possible cases of money-laundering, tax evasion and tax avoidance.”
The parliament had also formed a special commission to investigate the findings in the so-called “Lux leaks case,” which focused on possible tax evasion that took place in Luxembourg.
Over 11.5 million documents from Mossack Fonseca t were leaked to the media last year in a file labeled “The Panama Papers”, New revelations of illegal activities by tax dodgers and criminal groups around the world are surfacing daily The documents contained evidence of tax evasions and other financial irregularities. The revelations focused on a number of politicians, including the Icelandic Prime Minister who resigned from office and the New York Times recently carried an extensive report on 2,400 American citizens who used the services of Mossack Fonseca to hide their wealth and avoid paying taxes, including a celebrity author who gave financial advice to women.
