Consul insists Panama is fighting tax evasion
The consul of Panama, John A. Gauci-Maistre, writing on behalf of the Panamanian foreign ministry has rejected claims that the country is a tax haven.
“Panama is committed to the fight against money laundering, terrorist financing and tax evasion,” he said in a statement.
It was pointed out that last year, Panama enacted laws to reinforce policies of due diligence to identify the final beneficiary, aiming to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing and the financing of proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.
It also enacted a law imposing sanctions on companies that do not keep their records of minutes and shareholders updated.
Another law will ‘imobilise’ bearer shares.
“This has been recognized by international bodies such as the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), which has removed Panama from its grey list after the successful update of its legal framework, focused on the fight against money laundering, terrorist financing and tax evasion.
“It is also the case of the Global Forum, which unanimously approved the passage of the Republic of Panama to Phase II of the peer review process of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for the measures taken by the country in terms of transparency and exchange of tax information.”
The consul said Panama is not included in the list of “tax havens” of the European Commission.
“It maintains a high commitment to international cooperation with member countries, with existing accords, and the signing and negotiation of tax agreements. To date, Panama has agreements that facilitate the exchange of tax information with more than 10 member countries of the European Union.”
