Panama Papers: 'Don't link the data with any crime' - Khairy
Wan Syamsul Amly
April 5, 2016 20:09 MYT
April 5, 2016 20:09 MYT
KHAIRY: There are many individuals who conducted businesses before venturing into politics, so don't point any fingers yet.
No one at this point should link the data revealed in the so-called "Panama Papers" with any criminal doings.
Youth and Sports Minister Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar said there were many individuals who conducted businesses before venturing into politics.
"We don't know to what extent the content of those documents, even though they are dominating the headlines right now.
"So, we just need to see what will happen because it (the leaked papers) doesn't automatically link anyone to any crime," he said when commenting on the issue at Parliament lobby here today.
The Panama Papers is reportedly a trove of 11.5 million leaked internal documents from the Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, showing how some of the world's most elite used anonymous shell corporations across the globe to hide their wealth.
Those implicated in the documents included Iceland Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson and his wife, Russian President Vladimir Putin and his aides, Chinese President Xi Jinping and British Prime Minister David Cameron, as well as Saudi Arabia's royals and even Argentine football great Lionel Messi and his dad.
Meanwhile, Gua Musang MP Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah said, the Panama Papers issue must be viewed from a holistic aspect for the sake of transparency to the people.
"It needs to be identified if those implicated had the intention to evade taxes or anything like that. I believe for the sake of transparency and good governance, the people need to know," he said.
His opinion was supported by Padang Rengas MP, Datuk Seri Mohamed Nazri Abdul Aziz, who added that investigations needed to be carried out if there were cases of money laundering involved.