Quadriga: The International Talk Show from Berlin

Quadriga: Panama Papers - How Dirty Is The Hidden Money?


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Hidden fortunes have been exposed--the rich and powerful around the world are put under pressure. The so called Panama Papers have revealed the details of hundreds of thousands of holding companies.
Politicians, athletes, corporate interests and criminals used the secretive banks of Panama to move massive amounts of money without the peering eyes of the authorities.
In some cases this could be solely for the purpose of privacy--but often it could have just as easily been used to avoid taxes, or to pay bribes or circumvent internatonal sanctions against terrorists or questionable regimes.
Why have these kind of tax havens been allowed to thrive? Given what the Panama Papers have exposed: what now needs to be done?
What do you think? Send us an email with your thoughts: quadriga(at)dw.com
Max Heywood works at the Americas department of Transparency international. He says: “We’ve heard too many empty promises from leading governments. They have to take real action now and make the ownership of all companies public.”
Malte Lehming is the opinion editor at the Berlin daily Der Tagesspiegel and he says: “Money laundering has to stop. The owner of every company in the world needs to be known. We need new global efforts to counter terrorist financing and tax evasion.”
Ursula Weidenfeld is business journalist. She says: “As long as it can’t be proven that money from shell companies is being used for illegal purposes, we must presume that the people holding those accounts are innocent.”
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Quadriga: The International Talk Show from BerlinBy DW.COM | Deutsche Welle