美對巴拿馬文件泄露事件展開刑事調查
US prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation “regarding matters” related to the ‘Panama Papers’ leak of documents that have revealed secret offshore bank accounts linked to the rich and powerful.
美國檢方已對與“巴拿馬文件”(Panama Papers)泄露“有關的事情”展開刑事調查，遭泄露的文件曝光了與權貴羣體有關的祕密離岸銀行賬戶。
Preet Bharara, US attorney for the Southern District of New York, disclosed the probe by his office in a letter to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. In the letter, which was posted on the Guardian’s website and has been authenticated by the Financial Times, is seeking to speak with an ICIJ employee about the data leak.
紐約南區聯邦檢察官普里特巴拉拉(Preet Bharara)在致國際調查記者聯盟（International Consortium of Investigative Journalists，簡稱ICIJ）的信件中，披露了他的辦公室展開的這項調查。這封發佈在英國《衛報》(Guardian)網站上的信件，經英國《金融時報》鑑定是真實的。在信中，巴拉拉希望與ICIJ工作人員就此次數據泄露事件進行談話。
Earlier this month ICIJ and other news organisation published multiple stories based on 11.5m files leaked from Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca, one of the largest offshore law firms. The stories revealed offshore accounts linked to David Cameron, a close friend of Russian president Vladimir Putin and Iceland’s Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson, who was toppled by the revelations.
本月早些時候，ICIJ和其他新聞機構基於巴拿馬莫薩克豐塞卡律所（Mossack Fonseca，全球最大的離岸律所之一）外泄的1150萬份文件發佈了多篇報道。這些報道揭露了與戴維慍蕓倫(David Cameron)、俄羅斯總統弗拉基米爾渠京(Vladimir Putin)的一位密友、以及冰島總理西格蒙杜爾戴維貢勞格鬆(Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson)有關的離岸賬戶。西格蒙杜爾已因這些爆料而下臺。
The US Justice Department has been cracking down on American citizens and the bankers, lawyers and others who helped them evade paying taxes by hiding income in undeclared offshore bank accounts for nearly a decade.
將近十年來，美國司法部一直在打擊逃稅的美國公民、以及幫他們逃稅的銀行家、律師和其他人員。這些美國人逃稅的手法是將收入隱藏在未申報的離岸賬戶裏。
In 2009 UBS paid a $780m fine and signed a deferred prosecution agreement admitting it helped scores of Americans evade taxes. Other bank settlements followed, including a guilty plea by Credit Suisse in 2014, and dozens of individuals were charged.
2009年，瑞銀(UBS)支付了7.8億美元罰款並簽署了一份延期起訴協議，承認自己曾幫助幾十名美國人逃稅。後來另外一些銀行也與美國當局達成和解協議——瑞信(Credit Suisse)還於2014年在這件事上認罪——數十名個人受到指控。
The US has alleged in most of its cases that the banks and middle men helped Americans evade taxes by concealing their accounts in Europe and Asia. The bulk, if not all, of the revelations in the Panama Papers leak relates to non-US citizens. It is not clear whether the US is looking into whether Americans used the law firm to evade taxes that DoJ is unaware of, or if the authorities’ interest is related to specific investigations that are not necessarily tax cases, or something else.
美國當局指控稱，在其調查的多數案件中，銀行和中間人通過隱瞞美國人在歐洲和亞洲的賬戶來幫助他們逃稅。巴拿馬文件泄露事件中曝光的內容，大多（如果不是全部的話）是關於非美國公民的。目前尚不清楚美國當局是想調查有沒有美國人利用這家律所從事了他們未注意到的逃稅行爲，還是對未必與稅務案有關的特定調查感興趣，又或是有什麼別的目的。
