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Panama Papers triggered boom in US tax-shelter business, says Mossack Fonseca boss

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A provate security guard stands outside the building where Panama-based Mossack Fonseca law firm is headquartered in Panama City, on April 5, 2016. Photo: AFP

The co-founder of the law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers scandal says the fallout has set off a “thriving” boom in the creation of tax shelters in the United States.

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Juergen Mossack, who partnered with Ramon Fonseca to create the Panamanian firm Mossack Fonseca, said in a document obtained Thursday that after the Panama Papers leak a year ago, the number of new tax shelters created has fallen by 30 per cent in Panama and elsewhere.

“However, jurisdictions such as Delaware, Nevada and others located in the United States, where virtually no due diligence is required... incorporations are thriving!” Mossack said.

“Whilst Panama tries hard to be whiter than white, others are profiting,” he wrote.

The Panama Papers, published a year ago in a leak of more than 11 million documents belonging to Mossack Fonseca, spurred fresh government action against the secretive world of tax fraud and evasion.

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Before the scandal exposed the global extent of offshore tax havens, Panama was the last major financial centre refusing all exchange of banking information.
Agents of the National Civil Police of El Salvador seize the office of the Panamanian firm Mossack Fonseca in San Salvador on April 8, 2016. Photo: EPA
Agents of the National Civil Police of El Salvador seize the office of the Panamanian firm Mossack Fonseca in San Salvador on April 8, 2016. Photo: EPA
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