About John Christensen
Workshop: Call for Papers on Corruption and the Role of Tax Havens
Call for papers for a Research Workshop on CORRUPTION AND THE ROLE OF TAX HAVENS TweetShare
French parliament approves public country-by-country-reporting
Updated with new analysis. Update 2: on a third round, the proposal has failed in the national assembly. This is far from the end of it. STOP PRESS: We’ve just heard that the French National Assembly has voted in favour of public — yes, public — country-by-country reporting. As a member of Plateforme Paradis Fiscaux et Judiciaires (PPFJ,) a French
Read the full article…Three Tax Whistleblowers Who Changed The Game
The following blog was first published as part of a longer article in the Whistleblower Edition of Tax Justice Focus (available here). The article was authored by Professor William Byrnes, Associate Dean (Special Projects) Texas A&M University Law. A lawsuit filed by Daniel Schlicksup, a lesser acclaimed whistleblower, may end up costing Caterpillar billions of dollars and a criminal investigation
Read the full article…European Commission to probe McDonald’s tax deal with Luxembourg
The European Commission has just announced a formal investigation of the tax agreement struck between McDonald’s and Luxembourg. Read the full press release here, also read the Unhappy Meals report on McDonald’s tax avoidance schemes. There are many reasons to boycott McDonalds; add tax avoidance to the list. TweetShare
Ex-money launderer Kenneth Rijock offers tips for whistleblowers
In this article, first published in the Whistleblower Edition of TJN’s newsletter, Tax Justice Focus, convicted money launderer Kenneth Rijock (author of The Laundry Man, Penguin, 2013) offers some practical advice to those who might be considering blowing the whistle on their employers. Helpful tip: get yourself a good lawyer. TweetShare
John Christensen on rocking the boat in Jersey
In this blog, first published in the Whistleblower Edition of Tax Justice Focus (available here), TJN’s director John Christensen, a former Economic Adviser to the island of Jersey, reflects on his experience of exposing a banking scandal, which involved him in a direct confrontation with senior politicians and island officials. In September 1996, the Wall Street Journal published what was
Read the full article…The private banking fairy tale: a whistleblower’s story
This article was originally published in the Whistleblower Edition of Tax Justice Focus (November 2015) Whistleblowing by finance professionals has begun to make significant inroads into the sector’s culture of secrecy and collusion. Here UBS whistleblower Stéphanie Gibaud describes the costs to the individual of doing the right thing. TweetShare
UK secrecy jurisdictions are still helping criminals the world over
30 November 2015 Despite real progress, UK secrecy jurisdictions are still helping criminals the world over, warns report. UK Prime Minister David Cameron has vowed to lead the global fight against corruption. But, a new assessment released today warns that the UK cannot credibly claim that it has made significant improvements with regard to financial secrecy when jurisdictions it has
Read the full article…Reporting a crime is not a crime
UPDATE: Since publishing this blog on 26th November 2015 the Swiss Federal Court in Bellinzona has sentenced HSBC whistleblower Herve Falciani to five years in prison. Mr Falciani, who was tried in absentia, was charged with data theft, industrial espionage and violation of Swiss banking secrecy laws. More here This is an edited version of the editorial written for
Read the full article…Book review – The Joy of Tax
The following review, by Dan Hind, was first published in the Whistleblower Edition of Tax Justice Focus TweetShare
Tax Justice Focus – The Whistleblower edition
The latest edition of our newsletter Tax Justice Focus, with a special focus on whistleblowers, is now available for download here. Guest edited by Mary Alice Young of the University of the West of England, this edition is both an exploration of the difficulties confronting people who want to blow the whistle on companies engaged in providing financial services, and
Read the full article…The Tax Justice Network’s November 2015 Taxcast
In the Tax Justice Network’s November 2015 Taxcast: Why is the City of London losing so much business to New York, Hong Kong and Singapore? Our conclusions are quite different from those of a British Bankers Association report on the subject. Listen to the Taxcast here. TweetShare
The 2015 Financial Secrecy Index in the global media
Since its first publication in 2009, TJN’s Financial Secrecy Index has helped transform public understanding of the geography of tax havens. This has been helped by the huge international press coverage the index receives. This week’s launch of the 2015 FSI results has been no exception, with literally hundreds of articles in the international and national presses, including the local
Read the full article…European Commission determines state sponsored tax avoidance schemes illegal
Today the European Commission is expected to announce that the ‘comfort letters’ signed between European tax havens and companies are a form of illegal state aid. TweetShare
Dear Ambassador, the Bahamas is most definitely a tax haven
Update: condolences to those in the Bahamas who have suffered from Hurricane Joaquin which hit the islands on Saturday. We should add that those who have probably suffered most from the devastation have nothing to do with the Bahamas’ offshore financial industry. The Bahamas’ Ambassador to the United States has protested “in the strongest terms” against that jurisdiction’s designation as
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