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‘Panama Papers’ revelations trigger global probes

– ‘An attack on Panama’ –

The papers, from around 214,000 offshore entities covering almost 40 years, also name the president of Ukraine and the king of Saudi Arabia.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko denied any wrongdoing, but he may face an attempt to impeach him.

French newspaper Le Monde cited documents showing that Syria used Mossack Fonseca to create shell companies to help it break international sanctions and fund its war effort.

Pascal Saint-Amans, head of tax policy at the OECD, said the leaks showed Panama was among the world’s shadiest tax havens.

“Switzerland is really making progress, so there is a concentration of problems in Panama,” he told AFP, referring to another popular offshore tax haven.

One of the Panama law firm’s founders, Ramon Fonseca, told AFP the leaks were “a crime, a felony” and “an attack on Panama”.

More than 500 banks, their subsidiaries and branches have worked with Mossack Fonseca since the 1970s to help clients manage offshore companies. UBS set up more than 1,100 and HSBC and its affiliates created more than 2,300.

The documents show “banks, law firms and other offshore players often fail to follow legal requirements to make sure clients are not involved in criminal enterprises, tax dodging or political corruption,” the ICIJ said.

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Mossack Fonseca is already subject to investigations in Germany and Brazil, where it is part of a huge money laundering probe that has threatened to topple the current government.

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