«Panama Papers»: Panamanian government calls financial sector The government of Panama convened on Tuesday at a meeting with representatives of the local financial and legal sector, following the announcement of France to include the Central American country on a list of tax havens, it was announced Saturday officially.
The administration of Juan Carlos Varela «called for Tuesday to representatives of the main sectors within the financial and legal system to review the present and future actions in relation to recent disclosures involving Panama,» according to an official statement.
According to the note by the Secretariat of Communication of the State, Varela and his vice president and foreign minister, Isabel De Saint Malo, will meet at the presidential palace with the boards of the National Banking Association; the National Bar Association, the International Bar Association and the Chamber of Commerce.
These partnerships are part of the Presidential High Level Commission for the Defense of International and Financial Services (CANDSIF), an advisory body created in 2009 to review the state strategy related to international services platform.
«The government is taking every step from the whole country perspective, hence it is important to maintain communication and dialogue with the sectors directly involved in our financial and legal services,» De Saint Malo, who chairs the CANDSIF said.
This advisory group is different than the Panama intends to create in the coming days with international experts to analyze its financial center.
This Saturday the head of Panamanian diplomacy assembled a team of the Foreign Ministry to advance the diplomatic strategy that will be implemented for the safeguarding of financial platform and international services.
The announcement of the Panamanian government occurs after France include Panama in a list of tax havens, following the publication of so-called «Panama Papers» millions of documents showing a Panamanian firm created phantom companies for multiple personalities throughout the world in order to evade taxes.
These publications sparked strong criticism of the Panamanian financial system.
On Tuesday, Economy Minister of Panama, Dulcidio De La Guardia travel to Paris to present to the French government a position of «dignified, respectful and open to dialogue» country, Varela said Friday.
«I want to make clear that the measure taken by the government of France is a mistaken and unnecessary measure,» said Varela.
Panama has made reforms to its financial system to greater fight against money laundering and has said it intends to continue with them.
However, both France and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the deemed insufficient.