Editorial

Prosecute offenders

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UN should investigate Panama papers

Huge leaks regarding a Panamanian law firm claim that many government officials from all over the world have evaded taxes, disregarded sanctions and possibly, in some cases, looted from their own country.

British Prime Minister David Cameron is even being asked to resign over the fact that his father set up a trust revealed in the leaked documents. He and his wife have profi ted from this trust, according to CNN.

The transactions occasionally used charity names, like the Red Cross, to make the dealings seem legitimate.

Seventy-two current or former heads of states appear to be connected to the documents that cover a span of 40 years. The leaders accused of money laundering include elected officials and dictators, according to USA today.

We The Threefold Advocate believe that there should be a serious investigation into all of these claims, and the necessary powers should be held accountable.

First of all, the individuals need to be held responsible for their actions. The exact punishment should vary based on the crime. The people with the least punishment should be those who used the firm to dodge taxes. Although this is a serious offense, it appears to be the mildest. They should probably be punished within their individual countries.

However, the U.N. will need to get involved with two of the other groups: those who used the laundering to get around sanctions and those who looted from their own countries. If the process was used to get out of sanctions they should be punished because they broke agreements and helped countries that needed to change their actions.

The Threefold finds looting money from a dictator’s own country morally inexcusable. This would be a tough problem to fix since the dictators technically have rights to do pretty much whatever they want. However, the global community must fi nd a way to stop them from being able to loot money from their own county.

One way to potentially make it harder for dictators to loot money is to punish the corporations that are helping them. The law firm in this case is just as much at fault as all the other individuals. If accusations about the looting are true, they were reportedly profiting while people in these countries suffered. The U.N. should fine these leaders and make them leave the U.N. if they do not make changes. This punishment would deter other companies from potentially doing the same thing. This would make it significantly harder for the dictators to loot money out of the country.

To prevent this in the future, the U.N. should also pay close attention to charity transactions since this was used to make everything look more legitimate.

The Threefold Advocate demands that the U.N. investigate the reports that have been produced. After the investigation is complete, all parties need to be held responsible. Strict punishments need to be given to ensure that this will not happen again.

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