Pandora Papers: Members of Congress reject involvement of former presidents in tax haven scandal

Political reactions in Colombia to the investigation carried out by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, named Pandora Papers, in which are mentioned the names of the former presidents Caesar Gaviria, Andres Pastrana, the current Chancellor and Vice-President Marta Lucía Ramírez, among other things, they are just getting started.

To pick up RCN Radio statements by parliamentarians belonging to opposition groups, who consider that the links of the two former Colombian presidents with tax havens are “”impudence“And suggest the imminent resignation of the current director of the National Directorate of Taxes and Customs (Dian), Lisandro Junco.

This is the case of the representative of Boyacá, Caesar Pachon, who ruled on the fate of a senior official after being informed your participation in a Delaware-based company, United States, as well as interests in Cyprus and London, managed by a supplier in Dubai.

Pachon, member of the Indigenous and Social Alternative Movement, sent the following message from his Twitter account:

When we discover that the director of DIAN has companies in tax havens, we understand that García Marquez was not writing fiction. #Macondo

The representative deepened his criticism against Junco: “There are things in Colombia which no longer surprise and which he is responsible for collecting taxes, he avoids them, Well, that’s the absolute sample of what this government is. We await the irrevocable resignation of Mr. Junco, ”said Pachón, who maintained his comments on his Twitter account.

The Dian director has spoken out against the allegations of his involvement in the scandal, the phrase that captured the most attention in the headlines was: “The problem is not to have assets abroad, the problem is not to declare them”.

On behalf of the representative You are Asprilla, Green Alliance Party, the observation against Junco was even more acute, linking in his critique different agents of political events, such as uribism, drug trafficking and the fight against corruption:

Uribism’s fight against drug trafficking and corruption is a reflection of the fight of its director of DIAN against tax evasion, himself having accounts in tax havens. #PandoraPapers

Regarding the role of former presidents in Pandora Papers, the senator Armando Benedetti, Pacto Histórico, did not miss the opportunity to focus his criticism on the former presidents, specifying that their presence in this scandal “deinstitutionalize the country”.

Senator Benedetti also used his Twitter account to position himself on the issue:

Anyone who has an offshore account is because they don’t want to justify money, say “theft”, or because they want to evade taxes. Both are typical of smugglers, drug dealers and bandits.

Following on from his statements, RCN Radio quotes the following expressions from Benedetti: “At the same time, it is a great pity that two former presidents deinstitutionalize the country and have dark accounts abroad.”.

Note that the former liberal president, César Gaviria, spoke directly about the appearance of his name in Pandora Papers.

Gaviria admitted to having a stake in a Panamanian company, with which he dominated the hydro-energy panorama of this country:

Considering the various media publications on my participation in offshore companies in Panama, I intend to clarify that I certainly have an interest which has been declared to the National Directorate of Taxes and Customs (Dian ) in accordance with the requirements of Colombian laws

The former president clarified that the neighboring republic of Panama is not a “tax haven, and as such it was excluded by Colombia from the decree which indicates the jurisdictions considered as tax havens.”.

In context | Pandora Papers in Latin America: three active heads of state and 11 former presidents operating in tax havens – Infobae

The financial network investigation involving American and European public figures, known as the Pandora Papers, is a work carried out by more than 600 journalists assigned to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists.

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