The majority of Canadians named in the Panama Papers tax evasion scandal in 2016 had paid their owed taxes, according to an official with the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).
Cathy Hawara, assistant revenue commissioner of the Compliance Programs Branch of CRA, provided testimony on potential tax revenue loss resulting from non-compliance and tax evasion before the Standing Senate Committee on National Finance on April 26.
Senators asked questions about the 2016 Panama scandal in which approximately 11 million files with information on offshore bank account holders were leaked from the office of Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.
The committee heard how the disclosure caused a global scandal and included high-profile politicians, athletes, celebrities, and mobsters. At the time, CRA went to Federal Court to force Canadian bankers to disclose accounts of depositors named in the Panama Papers, according to Blacklock’s Reporter on April 28….