Panama Papers

==== New Zealand ====
New Zealand's [[Inland Revenue Department (New Zealand)|Inland Revenue Department]] said that they were working to obtain details of people who had [[tax residence]] in the country who might have been involved in arrangements facilitated by Mossack Fonseca.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-panama-tax-australia-idUSKCN0X102E |title=Tax authorities begin probes into some people named in Panama Papers leak |date=April 4, 2016 |first1=Jane |last1=Wardell |first2=Elida |last2=Moreno |work=[[Reuters]] |access-date=April 4, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160404020808/http://www.reuters.com/article/us-panama-tax-australia-idUSKCN0X102E |archive-date=April 4, 2016 }}</ref> [[Gerard Ryle]], director of the ICIJ, told Radio New Zealand on April 8, 2016, that New Zealand is a well-known tax haven and a "nice front for criminals".<ref>{{cite news |url = http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/78694086/nz-a-nice-front-for-criminals-panama-papers-journalist |title = NZ a 'nice front' for criminals |date = April 8, 2016 |access-date = April 10, 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160821073312/http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/78694086/nz-a-nice-front-for-criminals-panama-papers-journalist |archive-date = August 21, 2016 |url-status = live }}</ref> New Zealand provides overseas investors with foreign trusts and [[Look-through company|look-through companies]]. New Zealand government policy is to not request disclosure of the identity of either the settlor or the beneficiaries of the trust, and thus the ownership remains secret, and as a consequence, thus hiding the assets from the trust-holder's home jurisdictions. These trusts are not taxed in New Zealand. These trusts can then be used to acquire and own New Zealand registered companies, which become a vehicle by which the trust owners can exercise day to day control over their assets. These New Zealand-registered companies can be designed not to make a profit using loans from tax havens and other profit shifting techniques: the result being tax free income with the general respectability that has typically been associated with companies registered in New Zealand.

Prime Minister [[John Key]] responded May 7 to [[John Doe (whistleblower)|John Doe]]'s remark that he had been "curiously quiet" about tax evasion in the [[Cook Islands]] by saying that the whistleblower was confused and probably European. While the Cook Islands use New Zealand currency, "I have as much responsibility for tax in the Cook Islands as I do for taxing Russia." New Zealand does represent the Cook Islands on defence and foreign policy, but not taxation, he said.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/79731038/panama-papers-whistleblower-calls-out-john-key-over-silence-on-fraud-mecca |title=Panama Papers whistleblower confused – John Key |author1=Tracy Watkins |author2=Ellen Read |author3=Simon Maude |date=May 7, 2016 |access-date=May 8, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160821114912/http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/79731038/panama-papers-whistleblower-calls-out-john-key-over-silence-on-fraud-mecca |archive-date=August 21, 2016 |url-status=live }}</ref>

In distancing New Zealand from the Cook Islands, Key ignored the close ties between the two countries and the crucial role New Zealand had in setting up the Cook Island taxation system.<ref>{{cite web |url = http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/8515361/Money-trail-leads-home-to-New-Zealand |title = Money trail leads home to New Zealand |website = stuff.co.nz |date = April 6, 2013 |access-date = May 15, 2016 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161130135425/http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/money/8515361/Money-trail-leads-home-to-New-Zealand |archive-date = November 30, 2016 |url-status = live }}</ref>