AFP, Amsterdam :
EU finance ministers endorsed a series of measures on Saturday to fight tax evading methods used by Europeans exposed by the Panama Papers scandal.
“The sense of urgency is definitely much bigger,” said Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the finance minister from the Netherlands that holds the EU’s rotating presidency, on the second day of talks in Amsterdam.
“We’ve been (so) very busy competing with each other … that big companies tend not to pay taxes,” said Dijsselbloem who is also head of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers.
The EU’s 28 member governments at “very committed to close the gaps”, he added.
Among the measures, the EU will propose a joint list of tax havens to expose jurisdictions used by European individuals and companies to evade or minimise taxes.
“There is unanimous support that Europe create its own list of tax havens by this summer,” said European Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici.
This could prove difficult however, with EU countries already having individual lists based on highly different criteria.
The ministers also backed a proposal by the EU’s top powers to automatically exchange data in order to expose the real owners of shell companies.
Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain unveiled the measure at G20 talks in Washington last week.
“There is an assumed and converging willingness to fight any anonymous mechanisms” that aid tax evasion and money laundering, said French Finance Minister Michel Sapin.
Earlier report adds : Panamanian investigators on Friday raided a property used by Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the centre of a massive leak of offshore financial data, removing bags full of shredded documents as evidence, a local prosecutor said.
“We have secured a large amount of evidence found in the location,” said organised crime investigator Javier Caraballo. He said they also found many shredded papers, which they removed as evidence.
In a statement, Mossack Fonseca said it had digitised all its documents and that the shredded papers taken from its premises were bound for recycling. The law firm added that as a result of a previous search, prosecutors already had copies of all the documents they removed on Friday.
Leaks from the Panama-based law firm, dubbed the “Panama Papers,” have embarrassed several world leaders and shone a spotlight on the shadowy world of offshore companies.
EU finance ministers endorsed a series of measures on Saturday to fight tax evading methods used by Europeans exposed by the Panama Papers scandal.
“The sense of urgency is definitely much bigger,” said Jeroen Dijsselbloem, the finance minister from the Netherlands that holds the EU’s rotating presidency, on the second day of talks in Amsterdam.
“We’ve been (so) very busy competing with each other … that big companies tend not to pay taxes,” said Dijsselbloem who is also head of the Eurogroup of eurozone finance ministers.
The EU’s 28 member governments at “very committed to close the gaps”, he added.
Among the measures, the EU will propose a joint list of tax havens to expose jurisdictions used by European individuals and companies to evade or minimise taxes.
“There is unanimous support that Europe create its own list of tax havens by this summer,” said European Economic Affairs Commissioner Pierre Moscovici.
This could prove difficult however, with EU countries already having individual lists based on highly different criteria.
The ministers also backed a proposal by the EU’s top powers to automatically exchange data in order to expose the real owners of shell companies.
Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain unveiled the measure at G20 talks in Washington last week.
“There is an assumed and converging willingness to fight any anonymous mechanisms” that aid tax evasion and money laundering, said French Finance Minister Michel Sapin.
Earlier report adds : Panamanian investigators on Friday raided a property used by Mossack Fonseca, the law firm at the centre of a massive leak of offshore financial data, removing bags full of shredded documents as evidence, a local prosecutor said.
“We have secured a large amount of evidence found in the location,” said organised crime investigator Javier Caraballo. He said they also found many shredded papers, which they removed as evidence.
In a statement, Mossack Fonseca said it had digitised all its documents and that the shredded papers taken from its premises were bound for recycling. The law firm added that as a result of a previous search, prosecutors already had copies of all the documents they removed on Friday.
Leaks from the Panama-based law firm, dubbed the “Panama Papers,” have embarrassed several world leaders and shone a spotlight on the shadowy world of offshore companies.
