Public Citizen: "Panama Papers Leak Proves FTA Has Done Nothing to End Country’s Financial Crime"

Panama Papers Leak Proves FTA Has Done Nothing to End Country’s
Financial Crime, Highlights False Promises Used to Sell Pact

April 4, 2016


Statement of Lori Wallach, Director, Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch

“Nearly five years after the U.S.-Panama Free Trade Agreement (FTA) vote, the Panama Paper leak
proves once again how entirely cynical and meaningless are the American presidents’ and corporate
boosters’ lavish promises of economic benefits and policy reforms from trade agreements. The top
promise about the benefit of the U.S.-Panama FTA was that it would end Panama’s financial crime
secrecy protections and tax haven and money laundering activities, but what this leak shows is that, if
anything, Panama’s outrageous financial crime facilitation has intensified while the FTA’s investor
protections and official U.S. stamp of approval have increased inflows of dirty money to Panama.
Now, the same cast of characters is making equally outlandish promises of the benefits of the TPP,
while increasingly past supporters of these pacts are joining long-term critics in saying that not only
will the TPP not deliver economic gains for most Americans or improvement in labor, environmental
or human rights policy among its signatories, but that, in fact, it will follow the pattern of past pacts
and make things worse.”

Background: Panama Tax Haven Status Continues Unabated: The Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development, which tracks countries’ tax haven statuses, reported that Panama
remains one of just 11 nations in the world that has not passed a first-stage review of its tax
transparency measures, due to nonconformity on basic regulatory checks against tax evasion. Even the
Cayman Islands did not earn that dubious distinction. To counter criticism that the Panama FTA would
assist corporations seeking to dodge U.S. taxes via secretive Panama-based subsidiaries and bank
accounts, in late 2010 the Obama administration announced a new Tax Information Exchange
Agreement with Panama. However, a loophole in that agreement allows Panama to sidestep new tax
transparency provisions if they are “contrary to the public policy” of Panama, an interesting concept
for a country that earns much of its revenue by providing strict banking secrecy and tax-free status for
foreign firms incorporated there.

For more information on this topic:
www.citizen.org/panama-fta
www.citizen.org/documents/fta-trifecta-factsheet.pdf

http://www.citizen.org/documents/Panama-Papers-Statement.pdf