Panama Papers: search in Canada for tax evasion

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AFP

Wednesday, 14 February 2018 15:53

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Wednesday, 14 February 2018 15:53

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The canadian tax authorities carried out Wednesday, three searches, in Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto, in the framework of investigations for tax evasion in the wake of the revelations of “the Panama Papers”.

The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) has indicated that 30 of its investigators, accompanied by federal police officers, have participated in these searches were “a series of transactions involving foreign companies (…) for purposes of tax evasion”.

“The investigation is related to the leak of data from the law firm of panama, and service provider companies, Mossack Fonseca, made public in the Panama Papers,” said the CRA in a press release.

The investigation of “the Panama Papers,” which was produced by a hundred newspapers, revealed in 2016 assets in tax havens than 140 policy-makers, football stars or millionaires and created a shock wave worldwide, notably leading to the resignation of the Prime minister of iceland.

At least 350 canadian citizens are cited in the 11.5 million sensitive documents analyzed by the international Consortium of investigative journalists (ICIJ).

In the wake of the scandal of the “Panama Papers”, the government of Justin Trudeau had requested access to documents relating to Canadians, ensuring that the fight against tax fraud could recover 2.6 billion additional dollars (1.67 billion euros) over five years.

In addition to the raids on Wednesday, involving the same investigation, the CRA has stated that it was continuing to “other criminal investigations in connection with the leak of data of Panama Papers”.

All in all, the canadian tax authorities are working on “42 cases of cross-border tax evasion”. These tax fraud allegations “involve complex structures, and assume the existence of several billions of dollars in tax-evaded,” said the ARC.