Sri Lanka sets up panel to probe Panama Papers

COLOMBO: Cash-strapped Sri Lanka announced Sunday it was setting up a special panel to chase after nationals likely to figure in the “Panama Papers,” a trove of leaked documents on global tax evasion.
The government, which came to power in January last year on a promise to clean up corruption, has accused former President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his family of siphoning off billions of dollars during his decade in power, a charge he has denied. The new administration has also been weighed down by huge foreign loans taken out by the Rajapaksa regime. Colombo last week secured an IMF bailout of $1.5 billion to head off a balance of payments crisis.
Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake said Colombo would investigate “each and every Sri Lankan” whose names were likely to come up when the Panama Papers became publicly available on May 9.