Verbatim report of proceedings

Wednesday, 12 February 2020 - Strasbourg

State of play of the EU's fight against money laundering, in light of the Luanda Leaks (debate)

  Marek Belka (S&D). – Mr President, after discussions connected to the Panama Papers, Paradise Papers, Luxleaks and you name it, here we are again with Luanda Leaks.

Getting into detailed discussions about Ms dos Santos’ potential wrongdoings makes little sense now. What we need to look at is own European plate.

Firstly, if Dubai is so often mentioned in the Luanda leaks as a destination country for illicit wealth, why are the United Arab Emirates not on our European blacklist of non-cooperative jurisdictions? I call on the Commission to look into this issue whilst reviewing the lists.

Secondly, if a Portuguese bank and Maltese financial service providers have helped Ms dos Santos is in her actions, where are the loopholes in our fight against tax fraud and against money laundering? This year’s anti-money laundering action plan and legislative files on taxation have to address these points. While rightly criticising the wrongdoings of Africa’s richest woman, we need to also ask ourselves why in the EU we facilitate such actions.