Executive Summary – This is taken from a Panama Newspaper called La Prensa, date Oct.9, 2010.

It has been translated into English:

Stock ownership must be recorded

The OECD estimates that there are significant problems in terms of transparency. The Government has requested a new assessment for next year.

Roberto González Jiménez

rgjimenez@prensa.com

The Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) forward a draft bill to force the resident agents of corporations to keep track of who are the beneficial owners of shares, including those in bearer form.

The law provides penalties for brokers who do not comply with the regulations.

"It's something that Panama has to attend to give effect to double taxation treaties (DTT). Panamanian law allows bearer shares, and the authorities need to know who is the owner to give the required information to the requesting country, "said Frank De Lima, Vice Minister of Economy, which yesterday gave a press conference to evaluate a recent report of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on the transparency of Panama.

The international agency found "significant problems" in areas such as the availability of property information, especially in the case of corporations, the ability of authorities to obtain information for the purpose of sharing, the availability of sanctions for failure to maintain or produce information for exchange, and the reluctance to reach agreements for the exchange of tax information instead of DTT as a way to exchange information.

De Lima said some of the recommendations made by the OECD and were included in Law 33 of June 2010, but that these gains not reflected in the report since it closed in May.

Attorney Carlos Barsallo said that only the signature of DTT does not guarantee the output of the lists of tax havens. We must create laws and agencies to monitor and discipline, he added.

Here is the link:

Propiedad de acciones deberá registrarse

A similar article appeared in a second Panama Newspaper called Laestrella on Oct. 6, 2010 and is translated below:

PANAMA. To exit the gray list imposed by member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Panama still has pending tasks.

Among the points that the country must improve for the next OECD peer review are: the strengthening of measures to meet customers, resident agent services provided by lawyers and law firms in the country.

Frank De Lima, deputy economy minister, announced yesterday that Panama has made progress out of the gray list of the OECD.

De Lima said that from January 2011, Panama set up in the Directorate General of Revenue, Ministry of Economy and Finance, units of International Taxation Information Exchange. He explained that the Law 33, which creates these units in the DGI, will allow the respective collection and exchange of information for tax treaties.

For his part, attorney Carlos Ernesto Gonzalez Ramirez, who participated in the drafting of the law 'Know your customer', noted that Panama's interest to have an effective system that allows authorities to obtain information from the person who ordered incorporating a legal entity.

A trial of a former president of the APEDE, González Ramírez, "Our offshore system has never been structured with the goal of sponsoring certain actions by customers of the system."

Therefore, he said, hoped that the project "Know your customer ', presented to the Supreme Court, whatever it was discussed and agreed by the parties.

Meanwhile, Elias Ruben Rodriguez, chairman of the National Bar Association of Panama, said that the law of 'Know your customer' is not a new dotrina in the country, as the local banking sector and used for some time.

The important thing is to respect the right of sovereignty and legal proceedings are carried based on rules clarified.

To date, Panama has signed four Double Taxation Treaties (DTT) of the 12 required by the OECD. See box: Status of Treaties.

In the coming days the country will sign DTT with Spain, the Netherlands and Luxembourg.

Here is the link but it is in spanish:

Abogados respaldan la ley Conoce a tu cliente

This actually appeared in a third source:

Hidden owners of Panama Corporations to be uncovered

The article is below:

Another step to get Panama off the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) tax haven black list has been proposed by the country’s Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Registered agents would be required to record the benefiting owners of corporations, including those controlled by bearer shares.

The law includes sanctions for companies that do not comply with the regulations.

"It is something that Panama has to do to meet the requirements of double taxation treaties," said Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance Frank De Lima. "Panamanian legislation allows the use of bearer shares, and authorities need to know the owners of those shares to provide the information to the country requesting it."

The change is one of those being demanded by the OECD and is needed to remove Panama from the list of tax havens compiled annually.

Please Note : There is no official gray or black list of countries published, printed or that can be read by anyone put out by the OECD. This is a term pro tax writers have used that no longer has any basis in fact or law. Also note the US Coast Guard interdicts ships freely in Panama waters as if it were the USA. The US Army patrols the jungle in Panama armed. The IRS is opening an office in Panama. Most nations that are really sovereign would never allow a tax collection office of another nation to be opened in their country. Many countries have double tax treaties and tax treaties and still allow anonymous bearer shares. Don't believe the press explanations. This will undoubtedly cause capital flight from Panama. This could possibly take its toll on the health of the banks in Panama. We prefer Hong Kong since the banks are massive, they speak english, they offer government bank insurance, one can hold ten currencies, one can own gold in their bank account, the due diligence is minimal (no personal visits, no notary or apostille and no bank reference letters) and Honk Kong (China) cannot be pushed around by the other countries. The bank we use in Hong Kong has more deposits than all the banks in Panama added together by our guesstimates.

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