Close X
Saturday, December 14, 2024
ADVT 
National

Justin Trudeau Calls For Global Co-operation To Crack Down On Offshore Tax Evasion

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 06 Apr, 2016 12:13 PM
    MONTREAL — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Wednesday the international community has to work together to make global finance more transparent to prevent the sort of inequality highlighted by the so-called Panama Papers scandal.
     
    Otherwise, rich investors will simply "hop" around to favourable jurisdictions where they can avoid paying tax, Trudeau said.
     
    "The level of awareness that citizens of the world are beginning to take in regards to tax avoidance and evasion is good thing," Trudeau said in his first public comments on the controversy. "But it's certainly something that we will be working on together as a community of nations."
     
    The federal government knew tax avoidance was a problem long before the scandal put offshore havens in the headlines, he added.
     
    Trudeau was asked about the matter in Montreal, where the annual general meeting of the Royal Bank of Canada — the only Canadian banked linked to the data leak — was also taking place Wednesday.
     
     
    RBC CEO Dave McKay said he couldn't comment on the specific information leaked. But he said the bank is reviewing its files in an effort to verify to determine whether any wrongdoing took place.
     
    "This information ... goes back 40 years," McKay told shareholders. "So you can imagine how difficult it is to go back in your file 40 years."
     
    He defended the bank's processes to detect and prevent tax evasion, adding that it operates within the legal and regulatory framework of every country in which it operates.
     
    Media reports say the bank and its subsidiaries used Mossack Fonseca, a Panamanian law firm at the centre of the data leak, to set up more than 370 shell companies.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Two Dead After Via Train Collides With Vehicle East Of Chatham, Ont.

    Two Dead After Via Train Collides With Vehicle East Of Chatham, Ont.
    Two women have died after a passenger train collided with a car just east of Chatham, Ont.

    Two Dead After Via Train Collides With Vehicle East Of Chatham, Ont.

    Two Adults, Baby Killed In Two-Vehicle Collision In New Brunswick

    Two Adults, Baby Killed In Two-Vehicle Collision In New Brunswick
    The accident was reported around 6:30 p.m. Monday at the intersection of Homestead Road and Route 112, north of Salisbury

    Two Adults, Baby Killed In Two-Vehicle Collision In New Brunswick

    Mountie Killed In Two-Vehicle Crash Near Victoria

    Mountie Killed In Two-Vehicle Crash Near Victoria
      Media photos taken at the crash site show a pickup truck and a badly damaged RCMP cruiser at an intersection in Langford, B.C.

    Mountie Killed In Two-Vehicle Crash Near Victoria

    20,000 Litres Of Diesel Fuel Spill Into B.C.'s Similkameen River After Transport Truck Crash

    20,000 Litres Of Diesel Fuel Spill Into B.C.'s Similkameen River After Transport Truck Crash
    The truck was involved in a motor vehicle incident on Highway 3 at about 8 a.m. Monday, and a ministry employee is at the site.

    20,000 Litres Of Diesel Fuel Spill Into B.C.'s Similkameen River After Transport Truck Crash

    WestJet Faces Potential Class-action Lawsuit Over Alleged Workplace Harassment

    WestJet Faces Potential Class-action Lawsuit Over Alleged Workplace Harassment
    Former Westjet Flight Attendant Accuses The Company Of Fostering A Corporate Culture That Tolerates Harassment Against Female Flight Attendants And Silences Alleged Victims

    WestJet Faces Potential Class-action Lawsuit Over Alleged Workplace Harassment

    Mexico-Born B.C. Construction Worker Plants Mexican Flag On Roof Of Vancouver’s Trump Tower

    Mexico-Born B.C. Construction Worker Plants Mexican Flag On Roof Of Vancouver’s Trump Tower
    Mexican-born construction worker says he hung his native country's flag high above Vancouver to remind Donald Trump that his compatriots built the 63-storey tower.

    Mexico-Born B.C. Construction Worker Plants Mexican Flag On Roof Of Vancouver’s Trump Tower