From Tax Justice Network Africa, via its Afritax feed, a video showing a Zimbabwean member of parliament, James Maridadi, taking the Minister of Finance to task on revenue from Marange Diamonds. The brief exchange is worth watching, not least for the Minister's evasive manoeuvres. But it's … [Read more...]
Corruption
In the next taxcast: democracy for sale, via tax havens
Another day, another political party funding scandal. This time it's (again!) the UK, and its third largest party the Liberal Democrats. We will start with a quote. “Tax-haven lobbyists and beneficiaries have captured and corrupted our party political fundraising.” That's not us saying … [Read more...]
HSBC and the world’s oldest drug cartel
HSBC's core values are under scrutiny. The bank has been implicated in one scandal after another, and the current leadership claims to be wanting to restore the bank's reputation. But what reputation do they aim to restore? … [Read more...]
How the ‘competitiveness’ dogma made banks corrupt
We've come across an interview in The Atlantic with Stephen Platt, an expert on financial crime prevention, contained in an article entitled How Dirty Money Gets Into Banks. As much as anything, we've taken it as an excuse to reproduce this fabulous cartoon in Britain's Private Eye magazine, which … [Read more...]
Transparency International calls on UK to prosecute HSBC
The leading anti-corruption group Transparency International has called on authorities in the United Kingdom to launch a criminal investigation into HSBC in light of recent accusations against the bank. … [Read more...]
How Corrupt is Britain? New book coming soon
Watch David Whyte discussing the nature of corruption in Britain: Banks accused of rate-fixing and promoting tax evasion. Members of Parliament cooking the books. Major defence contractors investigated over suspect arms deals. Police accused of being paid off by tabloids. The headlines are … [Read more...]
HSBC, tax evasion and the link to lax financial regulation
Two quotes of the day, both from an article by Prof. Bill Black, a former U.S. bank regulator: "Taxes were once termed the price we paid for civilization, but they now represent the price the wealthy brag to each other about refusing to pay as they pillage civilization." Quite so. And then, … [Read more...]
Drug cartels, terrorist financing risk and sanctioned regimes also on HSBC’s books under Lord Green
Press release from Global Witness Systemic failure to stop money laundering or comply with US laws shows need for sanctions for senior executives at big banks The HSBC tax scandal shows that UK law needs to be changed so that senior bankers are held criminally responsible when they oversee … [Read more...]
HSBC: the world’s favourite tax evasion shelter
Today's media is awash with the latest revelations from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists about HSBC's involvement in helping its clients to evade and avoid tax. BBC's flagship documentary programme, Panorama, will be covering the story tonight. We have previously covered … [Read more...]
Quote of the day: tax-evading Greek oligarchs
From an article by UK journalist Paul Mason, published on the eve of the Greek vote: "As for the Greek oligarchs, their misrule long predates the crisis. These are not only the famous shipping magnates, whose industry pays no tax, but the bosses of energy and construction groups and football … [Read more...]
On the historical absence of inequality and tax in the news agenda
This guest blog from Dr Jairo Lugo-Ocando comes just a couple of days after the UK commentator George Monbiot wrote a piece in The Guardian entitled Our ‘impartial’ broadcasters have become mouthpieces of the elite, mostly from a Canadian and British perspective, in which he noted the extent of … [Read more...]
Foreign exchange turmoil brings offshore centres into focus
Moves by the Swiss National Bank to remove the Swiss Franc's currency peg to the Euro has prompted a new round of turmoil in global foreign exchange (FX) markets. We've already written about this from a tax justice perspective, but here's something else. Quite a few currency brokers have gone … [Read more...]
Slovak govt. to enact new anti-shell company law after scandal
A guest blog by Miroslav Beblavy, Member of Slovak Parliament for the opposition party Sie?, (who has been involved in drafting the legislation) and Silvia Hudackova, assistant to Miroslav Beblavy. Slovak government committed to enact new anti-shell law after the healthcare procurement … [Read more...]
Credit Suisse’s U.S. public hearing on Wednesday
A guest blog by Heather Lowe of Global Financial Integrity, with thanks: As many of you know, Credit Suisse AG (CSAG) was convicted in November of U.S. felony charges relating to assisting (and soliciting) tax evasion by U.S. taxpayers. A consequence of this felony conviction is that, according … [Read more...]
The New Year Wrapper
Ahmadinejad: “he was my driver” The Mafia Capitale scandal has been gripping Italy over the last few months. It involves the corrupt award of public sector contracts in Rome to a network of people associated with extreme right-wing and neo-fascist movements. … [Read more...]
