After ‘Panama Papers’ leak, UN expert calls for end of financial secrecy to halt illicit fund flows UN News Centre Panama Papers Shows Yet Again Why We Need An Intergovernmental Tax Commission In The UN Huffington Post Counting The Cost - Panama Papers: Inside The Shadowy World of Tax Havens … [Read more...]
Secrecy
The Panama papers are not about tax
Update: see TJN writer in UK's Prospect Magazine making this general point. This deliberately provocative headline is of course not fully true: tax is clearly a tremendously important aspect of the Panama papers scandal, as it continues to roil governments and élites and their advisers, around … [Read more...]
Links Apr 8
The Panama Papers: Victims of Offshore ICIJ Video animation: "Behind the email chains, invoices and documents that make up the Panama Papers are often unseen victims of wrongdoing enabled by this shadowy industry. This is their story." The fallout from Panama Papers revelations so far, country … [Read more...]
Mossack Fonseca: why so few American clients? (Hold the conspiracy theories)
There has been a lot of buzz about one aspect of the Panama Papers: why have so few U.S. citizens been exposed in these leaks? Panama was set up originally as a country - and as a tax haven -- with the help of U.S. financial interests, and it has been substantially within the U.S. orbit (mainly with … [Read more...]
As #PanamaPapers break, Europe plans to water down company ownership transparency
Press Release: As Panama Papers break, Europe plans to water down company ownership transparency Just as the Panama papers reveal the mayhem that can be caused by secret shell companies, the European Union is set to relax ownership transparency requirements for shell companies in its forthcoming … [Read more...]
Links Apr 7
The Panama Papers’ Sprawling Web of Corruption The New York Times Op Ed: "The papers chronicle a global industry developed to enable an international elite enriched by corrupt or illegal means to conceal its wealth and dealings from taxation, prosecution and public wrath." The Panama Papers … [Read more...]
Panama papers help the world wake up to Tax Haven USA
We're heartened to see that the Tax Haven USA story -- one that we seem to have helped breathe new life into with this blog in January last year, and our subsequent USA report, coming into the mainstream, helped by the Panama Papers. There are many, many stories out there now, including a comment … [Read more...]
Tax haven USA, after #PanamaPapers
"Unless the United States, and other countries, lead by example in closing some of these loopholes and provisions, then in many cases you can trace what's taking place but you can't stop it... There's always going to be illicit movement of funds around the world, but we shouldn't make it easy." So … [Read more...]
Majority of British public want David Cameron to act on the tax havens, poll shows
From our partners at Global Witness, published this morning A ComRes poll commissioned by Christian Aid and Global Witness and carried out immediately before [1] the Panama Papers exposé broke found overwhelming support among Brits for UK government action on the UK’s tax havens – its ‘Overseas … [Read more...]
Links Apr 5
Panama Papers: Hunting the pinstriped octopus hiding in offshore tax havens International Business Times By TJN director John Christensen Panama is only one head of the tax haven Hydra Financial Times (paywall) By TJN's Nicholas Shaxson, author of Treasure Islands #PanamaPapers - stories … [Read more...]
Links Apr 4
The Panama Papers: world reacts to huge offshore tax files leak - live The Guardian Panama Papers: Leaks spur global investigations BBC World figures deny wrongdoing as 'Panama Papers' turn spotlight on tax evasion Reuters The Panama Papers - Secrets of the Super Rich abc Panama Papers: … [Read more...]
The Panama Papers: the enablers of financial secrecy know what they are doing
Press Release: Tax Justice Network The enablers of financial secrecy know what they are doing … [Read more...]
The Panama papers – in case you missed it
The big offshore story of the moment is a new leak of 11 million documents from the Panama law firm Mossack Fonseca. The leak was originally to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, was shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, and involves over 100 news … [Read more...]
Guest blog: how the European Trade secrets Directive will silence tax whistleblowers
From Corporate Observatory Europe, the basic background for our guest blog: "The proposed EU legislation on “Trade Secrets Protection”, which the European Parliament will vote next April 14, creates excessive rights to secrecy for businesses: it is a direct threat to the work of journalists and … [Read more...]
Links Mar 31
Unfamiliar with irony, Swiss bankers are complaining of a “lack of transparency” Quartz New Zealand Foreign Trusts and the Unaoil Scandal: More Chickens Coming Home to Roost, and They’re Big naked capitalism See also: Mainstream Media Ignores Blockbuster Expose of Massive Bribery in Iraq by … [Read more...]
