EU Commission Head Juncker to Address Committee on Money Laundering

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Tuesday will address European Parliament’s Committee of Inquiry into Money Laundering, Tax Avoidance and Tax Evasion (PANA) to discuss the tax haven created in Luxembourg, a statement released by the Committee said.

"Members will discuss with President Juncker ongoing and upcoming Commission initiatives regarding the fight against money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion, and Luxembourg practices of (non-) cooperation with the EU and EU Member States in the area of competence of the PANA Committee," the statement said.

Juncker was the Minister of Finance and the Prime Minister of Luxembourg for a total of two decades. According to the representative of the Green parties' fraction of the European Parliament Sven Giegold, cited by the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper, Juncker failed to take the measures that were needed in order to prevent the country from turning into a tax haven.

Luxembourg, as well as Ireland, is listed as one of the most popular tax haven destinations, with the top 20 European banks making 8.4 percent of their profit from tax havens in these two countries in 2015.

The scandal over tax evasion schemes used by various financial institutions erupted in 2015, when some 11.5 million belonging to the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca were leaked by an anonymous source. The leaked papers contained information listing over 200,000 offshore entities used for tax evasion and fraud, and included personal information about individuals and public officials.