Panama City: Western leaders pledged to crack down on tax dodges by the rich and powerful on Wednesday amid a mushrooming scandal provoked by revelations of a web of Panama-based offshore financial dealings. A day after Iceland’s prime minister stepped down after being named in a massive leak of 11.5 million confidential documents — the so-called Panama Papers — international attention turned to tax cheats, with Panama’s role in particular focus.
France led global pressure on the Latin American nation, saying it would put Panama back on its own list of tax havens, four years after it had been removed.
Finance Minister Michel Sapin called on the 34-nation Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development to do the same.
“Unfortunately Panama has a bit of a tendency to make U-turns, to play the good guy and then the bad guy. This cannot go on,” Sapin told parliament on Wednesday. “In Panama, there is a law that sets out retaliation measures against countries that include Panama in 'grey lists',” Alvaro Aleman, the minister for the presidency, warned France.
