European Parliament To Investigate Panama Papers

by Ulrika Lomas, Tax-News.com, Brussels

19 April 2016

The European Parliament Conference of Presidents has unanimously backed a proposal for the creation of an inquiry committee to investigate the so-called Panama Papers.

The Conference of Presidents brings together the European Parliament President and leaders of Parliament's various political groups. The Conference will establish a mandate for the inquiry on May 4, after which the full Parliament will vote on the proposal.

Parliament may, at the request of one quarter of its members, set up a committee of inquiry to investigate alleged contraventions or maladministration of European Union (EU) law. The resulting committee is required to report back to Parliament within 12 months, although Parliament can choose to extend the period of inquiry.

The "Panama Papers" contain 11.5m documents leaked from law firm Mossack Fonseca. The data relates to accounts and companies in 21 offshore jurisdictions, and covers a nearly 40-year period.

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