LISBON: Panama alone took receipt of some €1.3 billion in transfers from Portugal over the period between 2010 and 2014 with around 1,800 transfers taking place, according to details from the Ministry of Finance. Interconnected with the Panama Papers detailing the activities of companies set up by the law firm Mossack Fonseca but broader in scope, the Finance Ministry detailed how some €10.2 billion was transferred out of Portugal to tax havens worldwide over this same period of time. Panama constantly remains in the top-5 on the list of preferred destinations for this capital flight and in 2010 ranked second with 351 individual transfers for a total of €531 million.
That year saw the Dutch Antilles lead the way as haven of choice with €770 million heading there with Luxembourg in third on €505 million followed by Hong Kong and the United Arab Emirates on €386 million and €201 million respectively. In the following year, Panama ranked third with Portuguese money totalling €547 million heading to the central American country before slipping back to fourth in 2012 and 2013 with transfers of €98 million and €105 million whilst its attractiveness as a destination slipped still further in 2014 when the country came in fifth with 158 transfers for only €19 million.
In 2014, Hong Kong topped the list for Portuguese financial transfers, raking in almost €163 million, followed by the Cayman Islands, the United Arab Emirates and Trinidad and Tobago that accounted for €51 million, €35 million and just under €25 million of transfers respectively. The amounts getting squirreled away in such domains have also varied over the course of time with 2010 and 2011 representing the peak years with over €3 billion and €4 billion. This then slipped back to €992 million in 2012, perked up to €1.1 billion in 2013 before slumping back to €373 million in 2014.
