Israel Launches Probe Into Firms Exposed In Tax Haven Leaks

The Times of Israel reports: Israel has launched a probe into companies and individuals exposed by the “Panama Papers” data leak to have holdings in offshore accounts.

The Israel Tax Authority announced Monday that it had opened an investigation after some 600 Israeli companies and 850 Israeli shareholders were listed in documents leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.

The investigation will look into the original source of the offshore funds, if accounts and assets were reported as required, and whether the necessary taxes were paid, the Tax Authority said in a statement.

The trove of over 11.5 million documents was published Sunday after a year-long investigation into the material.

According to the probe by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) with the German daily Sueddeutsche Zeitung and other media, including Israeli daily newspaper Haaretz, the leaked data, from 1975 to the end of last year, provides what the ICIJ described as a “never-before-seen view inside the offshore world.”