Page 11 - ATODAY

WORLD NEWS A11
Wednesday 6 April 2016

Panama rejects money-launder label following documents leak

People walk past the Arango Orillac Building which lists the Mossack Fonseca law firm in Panama global financial crisis. cent a year for a decade
City, Tuesday, April 5, 2016. Millions of confidential documents were leaked from the Panama- “It’s very unfair what’s hap- has been fed by the flood
based law firm, revealing details of how some of the globe’s richest people funnel their assets into pening because there’s of cash, transforming the
secretive shell companies set up here and in other lightly regulated jurisdictions. not a level playing field,” capital’s skyline into Latin
Fonseca told The Associ- America’s Dubai.
(AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco) ated Press in an interview. But Panama isn’t alone in its
“Without a doubt if this permissive attitude toward
happened to a company shell companies, which the
in Delaware nothing would British-based Tax Justice
happen, but because it’s Network estimates hide
Panama it’s the front page $21 trillion to $32 trillion in
of the world’s newspapers.” untaxed or lightly taxed fi-
Panama cemented its sta- nancial wealth around the
tus as a money laundering globe. In 2014, a group of
center in the 1980s, when academics wrote a book,
dictator Gen. Manuel “Global Shell Games,” that
Noriega rolled out the red looks at tax havens. They
carpet to Colombian drug used emails to set up shell
cartels. It has remained a companies with 3,700 cor-
magnet for illicit money, porate service providers
as well as for legitimate in 182 jurisdictions, posing
funds, because its dollar- as a range of low- to high-
ized economy sits at the risk customers, including
crossroad of the Ameri- drug traffickers and terrorist
cas. Breakneck economic groups.
growth averaging 8.5 per-
Continued on page 27

J. ZAMORANO world’s wealthy nations. in other lightly regulated ju-
J. GOODMAN That same defensiveness risdictions.
Associated Press has re-emerged amid the Ramon Fonseca, a co-
PANAMA CITY (AP) — fallout from the leak of 11.5 founder of the firm, said
Panamanians have long million confidential docu- Monday that his country’s
shrugged off their country’s ments from the Panama- success in establishing itself
checkered reputation as based law firm Mossack as an offshore banking gi-
a financial haven for drug Fonseca revealing details ant has bred jealousy from
lords, tax dodgers and cor- of how some of the globe’s first-world rivals at a time
rupt oligarchs. They like to richest people funnel their of increasing competition
joke that if they’re crooks, assets into secretive shell and scrutiny of the indus-
they’ve learned it from the companies set up here and try in the aftermath of the

Official: Numerous hurdles to Haiti elections

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) termine how much money and public suspicions of
— The head of Haiti’s re- remains to hold elections, electoral fraud favoring
vamped electoral council he said. former President Michel
said Tuesday that the nine- Berlanger ticked off so Martelly’s chosen succes-
member body is facing many challenges that it sor derailed a January run-
numerous hurdles in con- appeared there would be off. It was first postponed in
cluding a troubled election no way a twice-postponed December.
cycle that began last year. presidential and partial leg- On Tuesday, Berlanger said
Council President Leop- islative runoff could take any verification of disputed
old Berlanger told report- place this month as hoped. results from electoral rounds
ers that organizers sworn in A political accord negoti- last year would have to be
last week “inherited a crisis” ated in February tentatively authorized by a “political
and can’t issue a new elec- set the vote for April 24, but decision.”
toral calendar until a slew lately it has been hard to He said Haiti’s elector-
of challenges are resolved. find any political figures or al organizers could not
As part of their evaluation, analysts who believe that make a decision to verify
the new electoral organiz- date is possible. votes disputed by political
ers are even trying to de- Violent opposition protests factions.q