The covert use of offshore financial centres to conceal assets has blown up across the world following the huge leak of files from the Panama based law firm Mossack Fonseca. The APAC region is not to be spared as the Australian authorities now begin to delve into the details.
The giant leak of more than 11.5 million financial and legal records known as «The Panama Papers» was released by The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has reported it has received data containing names of a significant number of Australian residents. They have identified over 800 individual taxpayers via the weekend revelations and are said to be sifting through the details brought to light in the documents.
«High Wealth Individuals»
The statement from the ATO also claims that over 120 of the individuals identified were linked to an associate offshore service provider located in Hong Kong.
«The information we have includes some taxpayers who we have previously investigated, it also includes a large number of taxpayers who haven’t previously come forward, including high wealth individuals, and we are already taking action on those cases,» said Michael Cranston Deputy Commissioner.
