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 "The Panamanian government, via our foreign ministry, will create
an independent commission of domestic and international experts ...
to evaluate our current practices and propose the adoption of
measures that we will share with other countries of the world to
strengthen the transparency of the financial and legal systems,"
President Juan Carlos Varela said in a televised address.
Governments across the world have begun investigating possible
financial wrongdoing by the rich and powerful after the leak of more
than 11.5 million documents, dubbed the "Panama Papers," from the
Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.
In his brief statement, Varela reiterated Panama would work with
other countries over the leak, which was published in an
investigation by the U.S.-based International Consortium of
Investigative Journalists and various news organizations.
 The papers have revealed financial arrangements of prominent
figures, including friends of Russian President Vladimir Putin,
relatives of the prime ministers of Britain and Pakistan and Chinese
President Xi Jinping, as well as Ukraine's president.
Panama is still considering who will be in the commission, and Gian
Castillero, a senior government adviser, said in an interview he
expected it to report within six months.
Castillero conceded that the leak had hurt the reputation of Panama,
which has an economy that was 83 percent services-based, he said.
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France's government responded to the revelations on Tuesday by
saying it would put Panama back on its list of "uncooperative
countries", though Castillero was dismissive of the move.
"The declarations from France are emotional and political
declarations which shouldn't be repeated," he said in response to a
question about whether other countries could follow France's lead.
Castillero stressed that no proof had been found to show Mossack
Fonseca had acted improperly. And he was adamant that the fact that
founding partner Ramon Fonseca was a friend of Varela's would not
affect the government's judgment of the firm.
"I don't think it's really that difficult," he said.
(Reporting by Christine Murray and Elida Moreno; Editing by Leslie
Adler, Robert Birsel)
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