On 12th September 2016, Officers of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Anti-Corruption met with a Panamanian delegation including the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Panamanian Ambassador to London. Catherine McKinnell MP, Baroness Stern, Lord Rooker, Pauline Latham MP and Byron Davies MP attended as Officers of the APPG on Anti-Corruption.

The meeting provided an opportunity for face to face discussion about the multi-jurisdictional nature of transparency and anti-corruption efforts. No country can address the facilitation of corruption and tax evasion without consensus and cooperation from other governments. In addition, the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs emphasised that the report of the Panamanian Independent Committee on financial reform, instituted in response to the Panama Papers, will be made public.

Recognising that many companies exposed by the Panama Papers were incorporated in a British Overseas Territory, and the instruction of UK law firms, accountants and estate agents, by Mossack Fonseca, the APPG on Anti-Corruption voiced their support for the Panamanian Government’s efforts to improve transparency in the Panamanian financial and legal systems. The Officers also highlighted the anticipated Criminal Finance Bill as a current opportunity for the UK Government to strengthen its own anti-corruption efforts.

In light of the Criminal Finance Bill the APPG on Anti-Corruption continues to call for an end to financial secrecy in British Overseas Territories and calls for legislation covering corporate liability for economic crime to extend beyond bribery alone.