The Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) investigation into tax cheats taken by Canadians in the Panama Papers has taken a criminal turn.
The federal agency is now auditing 122 Canadian who appear in the database and has launched dozens of criminal investigations, details of which will be made public in a House of Commons status report on Tuesday.
The database, which was shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, led to hundreds of reports by media partners around the world, including CBC/Radio-Canada and The Toronto Star. The released information led to the resignation of Iceland’s prime minister and criminal probes in dozens of countries.
The CRA has begun to pursue jail time for the accountants and lawyers assisted their clients to set up offshore tax evasion schemes.
Last fall, 60 Canadians exposed in the Panama Paper’s were being audited, though only a handful of search warrants had been executed.
Read more at The Star
