Joan Burton: Panama scandal ‘a wake-up call’ for Ireland

Acting Tánaiste Joan Burton has warned the Panama papers scandal is “a wake-up call” for Ireland, adding companies here must be forced to pay minimum tax rates in order to prevent the crisis from re-occurring.

In an email to party supporters and members last night, the Labour leader said Irish authorities must address the tax system “leak” and urgently consider reforms such as the introduction of minimum effective tax rates “to undermine the incentives for tax avoidance by wealthy individuals and firms”.

Ms Burton said at an international level Ireland must continue to support moves to close the tax “loophole” for companies, saying such actions would “ensure every individual pays a fair amount of tax” in the countries where they are based.

The acting tánaiste’s comments came as Fine Gael MEP Brian Hayes said the law firm at the centre of the Panama files off-shore accounts scandal should be hauled before the European parliament to explain “possibly the biggest tax evasion scandal in history”.

Details revealed in recent days as part of a year-long, worldwide investigation, show that politicians, businessmen, sports stars, arms dealers and other firms have been secretly hiding billions of euro in non-taxed funds in off-shore accounts.

Fine Gael MEP Brian Hayes

The information in the files, disputed by a number of those affected, related to the likes of Russian president Vladimir Putin, Chinese president Xi Jinping, Argentina and Barcelona footballer Lionel Messi, a senior Fifa ethics committee member and companies with bases in Ireland.

Ex-Fine Gael strategist Frank Flannery has also been named in relation to the alleged involvement of British Virgin Islands company International Funding Promotions in his purchase of a London property in 1996 — a claim about which he denies any knowledge.

Law firm Mossack Fonseca is central to the claims, and has refuted the allegations.

However, in one of a number of statements from the European People’s Party grouping of which Fine Gael is a member, Mr Hayes said the matters have yet to be clarified and that urgent answers are now needed.

Ex-Fine Gael strategist Frank Flannery

He said that Mossack Fonseca must now be brought before the European parliament’s special tax committee — set up in the wake of the Lux leaks London financial scandal and has heard from firms such as Apple, Facebook, and McDonalds — to answer questions over the affair.