Margrethe Vestager says Panama Papers the ‘tip of the iceberg’

National leaders revealed to have been using offshore tax havens.

The Panama Papers scandal is the “tip of the iceberg” when it comes to wealthy individuals being helped to avoid paying tax, European Competition Commissioner Magrethe Vestager said Monday.

The commissioner told Danish paper Børsen Finans that other companies provide offshore services similar to those performed by Mossack Fonseca, a Panama-based law firm. More than 11 million files from the firm, leaked to German paper Süddeutsche Zeitung, show how national leaders and 140 politicians, their families and associates, used offshore tax havens.

“I thought that I knew about it already, but I was baffled by the extent of it,” Vestager said. “My next thought was that it was just the tip of the iceberg. Because there has to be other companies that are advising on how to facilitate offshore companies.”

“To me it’s not so much about politics or morality, it is more straightforward,” the commissioner said. “There are a whole lot of people and companies who just pay their tax. If we all did the same we might need to pay a little less tax and get more out of it.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson are among those caught up in the scandal, along with Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko, and Saudi Arabia’s King Salman.

The French government said Monday that it will seek access to the documents, which were analyzed by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in collaboration with media outlets.

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