Senators prepare initiatives to regulate the investments of officials in tax havens

After the publication of the Pandora Papers, senators of Brunette, National Action and Citizen movement announced their intention to reform the legal framework in Mexico so that laws prevent public officials from investing in tax havens that allow them to hide their true assets or provide them with a way to transfer money of illicit origin abroad.

Investigation of Pandora Papers Posted last month by Fifth Element Lab and more than a hundred media in Mexico and the world, documented that in the last decades more than three thousand Mexicans have brought millions of dollars to entities in tax havens; at least 80 of them were politicians, active or retired public servants, and their families.

“What this initiative aims to do is combat the corruption and impunity that prevail in these types of cases. As we have seen at various times, many public servants use tax havens to evade taxes, for money laundering and the concealment of resources, “said Senator Moreno in an interview. Nestora Salgado.

The legislator, along with her colleague Ricardo Monreal, presented since last March an initiative that aims to reform article 7 of the General Law of Administrative Responsibilities to prevent public servants from using tax havens. The opinion, in charge of the Commission of Anticorruption, Transparency and Citizen Participation of the Senate, had remained without progress these months, but the Pandora Papers revived the intention to legislate on the matter.

The initiative proposes that public servants refrain from directly or indirectly owning assets or capital of any kind in jurisdictions with preferential tax regimes considered as tax havens. In the event of non-compliance, they could be credited with sanctions that range from financial fines and temporary suspension from office, to dismissal and disqualification from 10 to 20 years to perform in public service.

We will continue to insist that this initiative be approved very soon in order to promote a culture based on transparency and accountability, ”said Salgado.

The leaked documents in the Pandora Papers showed that the politicians and officials featured on the list come from various political parties like the PRI, the PAN, Morena and the Green. In all the cases reviewed, none of the public servants reported in their public equity declaration on the assets they owned through offshore companies.

“Officials should be forced to declare the existence of resources (they possess) in tax havens in their declaration of assets, which is explicit, that we could put into the law,” said the PAN senator, Xóchitl Galvez, who is also secretary of the Anticorruption Commission.

Gálvez announced that he will present another proposal to complement the one that has already been turned over by the Morena legislators. “I am going to propose an initiative next Tuesday with some corrections that could make this initiative viable (…) We have to ensure that these investments are not the product of illegal acts because then there is damage to the nation, to the public finances and in general to all Mexicans ”.

In addition to forcing officials to declare the goods and assets they own in tax havens, the blue and white legislator proposes to classify the use of tax havens by public servants as a serious crime so that it can be sanctioned by the law. Public Function Secretary and for him Federal Court of Administrative Justice.

“It is a very important issue that is on the table and that is about to be decided. Legislation in this regard would be a great step in the fight against one of the great pending challenges, which continues to hurt our country: corruption, ”said the president of the Anticorruption Commission, Juan Zepeda.

For the senator of Citizen movement, tax havens have become fertile ground for corruption and tax evasion by public officials, so there is a willingness to analyze and discuss the initiative within the commission he heads.

In the Pandora Papers appear some close politicians to the president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, the sons and brothers of former PRI and PAN governors, current members of the state cabinets of Morelos, Oaxaca and Coahuila and even the Morenista senator, Armando Guadiana Tijerina.



Reference-www.eleconomista.com.mx

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