Mossack Fonseca Leaks: Panama Creates Panel of Experts to Improve Transparency

Panama’s President Juan Carlos Varela has announced his country is creating an international panel to help improve transparency in its offshore financial industry.

The announcement follows the leak of millions of documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, showing it helped some clients evade tax and avoid sanctions.

Several countries are probing possible financial crimes by the rich and powerful in the aftermath of the leak.

In a TV address, President Juan Carlos Varela said Panama would work with other countries over the revelations.

“The Panamanian government, via our foreign ministry, will create an independent commission of domestic and international experts,” he said.

The panel would examine working practices and propose measures that could be shared to strengthen the transparency of the financial and legal systems.

Correspondents say President Varela is eager to defend his country against a “media attack” by wealthy countries that he says are unfairly stigmatizing him following the leak.

Mossack Fonseca, for its part, says that it has been the victim of a hack.

The company’s partner, Ramon Fonseca, insisted the leak was not an “inside job”.

Mossack Fonseca had been hacked by servers based abroad.

It has now filed a complaint with the Panamanian attorney general’s office.

Mossack Fonseca has accused media organizations reporting the leak of having “unauthorized access to proprietary documents and information taken from our company” and of presenting this information out of context.

The revelations have already sparked political reaction in several countries where high-profile figures have been implicated.

On April 5, Iceland’s PM Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson resigned after the documents showed he owned an offshore company with his wife but had not declared it when he entered parliament.

Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson says he sold his shares to his wife and denies any wrongdoing.