The Swedish Tax Agency demands a refund of three billion after the Panama leak

Documents leaked from Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca dropped like a bombshell, exposing the assets of politicians, celebrities and criminals around the world in tax havens.

This revelation led to intense work at the Swedish Tax Agency, where about 200 employees were involved in checks on Swedes who were in the leak.

“We have learned a lot from the Panama leak and are using this knowledge in working with new leaks,” Lena Bergqvist, director of the program for combating serious international tax evasion at the Swedish Tax Agency, says in a press release.

Enabling factors are reviewed

The Tax Agency's controls not only generated billions in revenue for the Swedish state, but also led to new legislation and the development of international exchange of information between tax authorities around the world.

Work on the Panama leak has focused on so-called enablers – banks, law firms and tax consultants who play a central role in building and managing the structures used to evade taxes.

The Dubai leak is being investigated

The Panama leak showed that communication between Swedish taxpayers and Mossack Fonseca was usually managed through Swedish bank branches or subsidiaries abroad.

The Swedish Tax Agency will therefore focus more on these enabling factors in future inspections.

Now the Swedish Tax Agency is also investigating the Dubai leak that Uppdrag grunskning talked about in the series “Dubai Swedes”.

Through cooperation with authorities in other countries, the Swedish Tax Agency obtained information from Dubai, which led to several criminal reports about possible support and money laundering crimes.