France investigates 560 taxpayers over Panama Papers

French authorities said on Thursday they are investigating 560 taxpayers over tax evasion based on information garnered in the leaked Panama Papers. They confirmed a report in Le Monde, one of the papers that broke the Panama Papers story along with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists in April.

Tax investigators around the world have spent months delving into the 11.5 million confidential documents leaked in April after Panamanian law office Mossack Fonseca’s computers had been hacked.

The French taxpayers are suspected of having hidden away money through shell corporations in offshore tax havens such as the Bahamas and British Virgin Islands.

"Probe has begun on 560 taxpayers", a finance ministry spokeswoman confirmed. A source privy to the developments said the probes could take several months to complete.

The taxpayers who used Mossack Fonseca’s services had hidden away €4 billion ($4.3 billion) in assets for which the French government is due to recuperate 1.2 billion euros in unpaid taxes and fines, according to Minister of Budget, Christian Eckert.
By mid-September the STDR had received overall 47,000 requests from taxpayers to normalise their situation.
In September, Denmark also confirmed it was working on 320 cases implicating 500-600 taxpayers.