US reviewing 'Panama Paper' revelations

The Justice Department is reviewing the so-called Panama Papers and will follow up on wrongdoing or corruption linked to the US, an agency spokesman said Monday.
"We are aware of the reports and are reviewing them," Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr.
"While we cannot comment on the specifics of these alleged documents, the US Department of Justice takes very seriously all credible allegations of high level, foreign corruption that might have a link to the United States or the US financial system."
The comments came one day after the release of some 11.5 million documents by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, concerning some 214,000 offshore entities. The leaked documents came from Mossack Fonseca, a Panama-based law firm with offices in more than 35 countries.

The revelations have left powerful figures from countries including Russia, China, Argentina and Iceland scrambling to explain apparent connections to offshore financial vehicles that look to have been set up to hide assets.
France, Spain and Australia all opened legal probes Monday.

Jubilee USA Network, a faith-based anti-poverty group, called for Congress to prevent the establishment of anonymous companies in the United States.
But whether or not these documents reveal substantive,
legitimate evidence of people thwarting monitors of the international financial system, the United States will continue to be a leading advocate of greater transparency in its financial system, Earnest said.

"That's something that we have long pursued, and we're going to continue to be at the forefront of making that argument because it contributes to our national security," he said.
There are officials both at Treasury Department and Department of Justice who have responsibilities here.
The effective completion, or the effective implementation of those strategies by the Department of Treasury and the Department of Justice also rely on effective coordination with our partners around the world, he added.
"So there obviously is an opportunity for the US to use some of our leverage as a leader in this field and as the world's largest economy to bring about some of the changes that we would like to see. We have been doing that for a long time. Those efforts are only going to continue," Earnest said.

"We're going to continue to be a leading advocate for that kind of transparency. There will continue to be large groups of national security professionals at the Department of Justice and at the Department of Treasury who will continue to be focused on these issues," he said.
The latest investigation from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) zeroes in on the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, and is perhaps the starkest example yet of how financial secrecy helps fuel crime, corruption, and inequality that stifle development around the globe, said Financial Transparency Coalition.
"This latest leak, potentially the biggest ever, is another nail in the coffin for anonymous companies and secrecy jurisdictions," said Porter McConnell, Director of the Financial Transparency Coalition.

"People around the globe are waking up to the damage caused by anonymous companies, complex tax structures, and the lawyers and accountants that help set them up," he said.
"From the South African mine workers' families whose death benefit was stolen to the Indonesian parent left unable to pay school fees to the Syrian people who lost their lives in bombing raids paid for via anonymous companies - crime, inequality, and violence are the inevitable result of the extreme financial secrecy available to the rich and powerful through firms like Mossack Fonseca. Ordinary people are no longer willing to pay the price," McConnell added.