The Canada Revenue Agency executed search warrants across Canada on Wednesday in relation to the Panama Papers data leak.
The agency announced its agents had conducted raids in Calgary, West Vancouver and the Greater Toronto area with the help of local law enforcement officials.
The agency said it was looking “for evidence with respect to the commission of offences against the Income Tax Act and the Excise Tax Act.”
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The CRA’s investigation identified a series of transactions involving foreign corporations and several transfers through offshore bank accounts used allegedly to evade taxes.
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The CRA says it currently it is currently investigating 42 international/offshore tax evasion cases including the one for which the raids were executed. These cases involve complex structures
and potentially multi-millions of dollars in evaded taxes.
Last April, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists received some 11.5 million leaked records from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca that showed how some clients avoided taxes.
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People convicted of tax evasion can be fined 50 to 200 per cent of the evaded taxes and imprisoned for up to five years.
With files from The Canadian Press
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