Offshore finance

Police on April 12 raided the headquarters of the Panama law firm whose leaked documents have unleashed a global scandal over how the world's elite use offshore companies to hide their wealth.

The European  Commission proposed on Tuesday to introduce public reporting requirements for the largest companies operating in the EU and in tax havens in a bid to boost tax transparency.

The proposal aims to ensure that multinationals publish each year a report disclosing the profit and the tax accrued and paid in each member state on a country-by-country basis.

British Prime Minister David Cameron on April 10 released his tax details in a bid to head off a row over his father's offshore business, and announced a new taskforce to scrutinize the so-called Panama Papers.

A Bulgarian MP has proposed to announce a tax amnesty scheme for the country's nationals holding funds in bank accounts in offshore jurisdictions following revelations in Panama Papers leaks.

British Prime Minister David Cameron admitted on April 7 he had held a 30,000 stake in an offshore fund set up by his father, after days of pressure following publication of the so-called Panama Papers.
 
Cameron sold the stake in the Bahamas-based trust in 2010, four months before he became prime minister, he said in an interview with television channel ITV.
 

Nearly a third of the business of the law firm at the center of the Panama Papers scandal came from its offices in Hong Kong and China, reports said April 7, with the Asian giant assailed by corruption and capital flight.

Aleksandar Vucic said on Wednesday, commenting on the Panama Papers document leak, that Serbian tax authorities "will check everything."

Beta agency is reporting that on Tuesday, the Network for Investigating Crime and Corruption (KRIK) "disclosed the names of 18 persons from Serbia who founded offshore companies through the law firm Mossack Fonseca from Panama."

Only several names of Bulgarian entrepreneurs have surfaced out of the Panama Papers so far, three days after the affair emerged exposing global offshore dealings that involve politicians, celebrities and business people from around the world.

A budget and finance committee in Parliament has approved restrictions to the share which an offshore entity can own of a Bulgarian company.

If the amendments are approved, offshore entities will only be able to own up to 10% of a Bulgarian company.

One of the founders of the law firm at the center of the explosive "Panama Papers" revelations on off-shore holdings told AFP on April 5 his company was hacked by servers abroad.

Ramon Fonseca said the firm Mossack Fonseca had lodged a criminal complaint with Panamanian prosecutors on April 4 over the breach.