MADRID—The European Union’s five biggest economies, including Germany and Britain, have agreed to share information on company ownership and are urging other nations to do the same to make it harder for criminals and tax cheats to avoid the law.
The move announced late Thursday comes as the leak of the so-called Panama Papers claimed another political casualty: Spain’s acting industry minister resigned after his name was linked to offshore companies. Iceland’s prime minister was forced to resign earlier this month as a result of the leak.
Britain’s Treasury chief George Osborne and his counterparts in Germany, France, Italy and Spain have agreed to share information on the beneficial ownership of companies. In addition, they have written to other leaders of the Group of 20 most advanced economies, urging progress toward a global information exchange that will “lift the veil of secrecy” that criminals hide under. Osborne described the deal as a breakthrough.
“It shows the benefit of working together,” he said. “No single country can tackle international tax evasion alone.”
The leak of documents from a Panama-based law firm have placed tax evasion at the top of the international agenda by disclosing how the elite use shell companies to dodge financial obligations. It has sent off reverberations globally, forcing unprecedented disclosures by political leaders such as U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron, who released his tax returns for the first time after questions about his family’s affairs.
