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Gov't should release195 tax evaders before investigation

Gov't should release195 tax evaders before investigation

Posted April. 05, 2016 07:18,   

Updated April. 05, 2016 07:22

한국어

Newstapa, a Korean non-profit online media, reported on Monday that Roh Jae-heon, the oldest son of former President Roh Tae-woo, owns three paper companies at a tax haven. The media released that they have identified 195 Korean names with Korean addresses after analyzing the data leaked from Mossack Fonseca, the biggest law firm in Panama, under cooperation with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

The so called “Panama Papers” consist of 11.5 million reports between 1977 and 2015. This largest-ever leakage of Panamanian shell company data revelation is likely to bring huge impacts. The German newspaper who first obtained the data suggested ICIJ for a collaborative work of analyzing it, and later as many as 109 media from the world joined the work. The papers include finances of high-profile celebrities such as Russian President Vladimir Putin and other former and incumbent national leaders, soccer star Lionel Messi and movie star Jackie Chen.

Newstapa disclosed that Roh was appointed as shareholder and director of three companies he established in 2012. They are known to be shell companies used for hiding foreign income or evading tax. This is a similar situation to the tax scandals took place in 2013, when 182 figures including former President Chun Doo-hwan’s son were accused of tax dodging. The National Tax Service investigated 48 cases and imposed a total of 132.4 billion won after media revelation. This time, the amount of data is more than 10 times, meaning that the tax agency would have to upgrade their investigation methods as well.

Tax haven has become a sensitive international issue since the 2008 financial crisis for being used as a place for the rich and the privileged to hide their assets and avoid tax. Since then, countries have set out “Wars on tax evasion.” Voices urging international cooperation to prevent intelligent tax evasion. Korea has also facilitated crack-down hiding money overseas by joining the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) with the U.S. and 53 other nations.

The voluntary report system of unreported foreign income and assets introduced by the National Tax Service from October last year for six months was ended in March. The government should realize taxation justice by opening the ICIJ data to the public and conducting strong investigation against the individuals and businesses in the list.



고미석기자 mskoh119@donga.com