Offshore finance

Bulgaria received a LARGELY Compliant estimate in a report of the Global Forum for Transparency and Exchange of Information for tax purposes with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, reported the National Revenue Agency, cited by BTA.

Nobel Prize-winning economist Professor Joseph Stiglitz, who as the former advisor to the Panama government spoke before a special inquiry committee set up by the European Parliament on the “Panama papers”. The renowned US economist called for “zero tolerance” against secret tax structures and that Europe should lead the way in achieving transparency in the global financial system.

In the digital age, offshore secrets are hard to keep. In its latest revelations, investigations have been published based on the leak of 1.3m internal files from the company register of the Bahamas, one of the world’s most notorious tax havens.

The government is expected to submit in parliament on Wednesday a new amendment on the controversial article included in the omnibus and provided that politicians would be able to own offshore companies in tax havens countries, as Proto Thema newspaper revealed.

All opposition parties have expressed their frustration over the new amendment made by SYRIZA-ANEL government regarding the article 178 of the omnibus bill passed in Greek parliament a few days ago.

Bilyan Balev, the co-chair of the Bulgarian Development Bank, has become the first "politically exposed person" from Bulgarian who se name is revealed in the Panama Papers affair.

The Bulgarian Development Bank is almost exclusively owned by the Republic of Bulgaria and is overseen by the country's Finance Ministry.

Financial prosecutors have started sending requests to judicial authorities in Panama, seeking the full details of Greek shareholders in or managers of offshore companies included in the Panama Papers, a leaked list of confidential documents compiled by Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.

Macedonian President Gjorgje Ivanov has denied claims that either he or his family have exploited secretive offshore tax regimes in Panama to conceal their wealth.

Greek banks and the state are in the process of creating a national register for offshore company owners, in compliance with a European Union directive to that effect.

The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank said on April 19 they are joining forces with other international organizations to cooperate on tax issues and develop new tools and standards to halt tax base erosion and evasion.