An article in Forbes on 23 January reported on an operation which was part of a series of investigations into an international financial institution located in Central America, whose products and services may have been used in a money laundering and tax evasion scheme for customers across the globe. The “coordinated day of action” involved evidence, intelligence, and information collection activities such as search warrants, interviews, and subpoenas – said to be the first use by the so-called J5 (the Joint Chiefs of Global Tax Enforcement, established in 2018, with membership which includes the heads of tax crime and senior officials in tax agencies) of such powers on a global scale. The name of the targeted financial institution was not revealed, but it is said that some tax professionals believe that the investigation is linked to the Panama Papers (though this suggestion is disputed).
