European Parliament tax evasion investigation kicks off; proper inquiry must be swiftly ramped-up Sven Giegold Indonesia to crack down on corporate tax avoidance via transfer pricing Reuters Zambia: Why discrepancies in our copper trade records? Zambia Daily Mail "... we cannot easily … [Read more...]
Secrecy
Links Feb 25
Unhappy Meal: €1 Billion in Tax Avoidance on the Menu at McDonald's War on Want HSBC bosses grilled over Swiss tax scandal - live updates The Guardian Abusive Tax Avoidance and Institutional Corruption: The Responsibilities of Tax Professionals Social Science Research Network Hat tip: … [Read more...]
Links Feb 24
Economic Campaigner of the Year Tax Research UK HSBC Scandal: why tax havens are fuelling global poverty and how you can help stop it ONE Sign the petition: ask BIS to release secret information about tax havens and expose corruption. Should the HSBC Scandal Spell the End For Trickle Down … [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...]
Links Feb 23
Cayman Islands Financial Services: Publication of Beneficial Ownership Consultation Submissions The Quiet Man Who Made Big Trouble for Little Luxembourg Bloomberg See also: ‘I am not a martyr’, says LuxLeaks whistleblower facing jail Financial Times (paywall), and recent blog Will Antoine … [Read more...]
Links Feb 20
Asian campaigners demand the OECD’s BEPS process do more for developing countries Global Alliance for Tax Justice India: Tax department to issue notice to HSBC on alleged money laundering The Times of India See also: India: Black money probe: Activists, experts fault government for tardy … [Read more...]
Links Feb 19
HSBC : University of Warwick - Top researchers in call for re-think over international undercutting; Expert team warns of 'race to the bottom' threatening living standards around the world 4-Traders TJN-Africa's most recent publications on Transfer Pricing in Africa: Transfer Pricing in … [Read more...]
Settling accounts: what happens after SwissLeaks?
From Koen Roovers, re-posted from Open Democracy: Settling accounts: what happens after SwissLeaks? By Koen Roovers, Financial Transparency Coalition A major leak of incriminating HSBC records last week resulted in print and television news coverage around the globe, trended on Twitter for … [Read more...]
Links Feb 18
Map: Who’s hiding the most money in secret Swiss bank accounts? Washington Post Wonkblog Tanzania: Trio to face Public Accounts Comittee on Swiss billions Tanzania Daily News / allAfrica Swiss Leaks: Billions of dollars lost annually in Africa, says ICIJ Caperi Brazil probes link between … [Read more...]
Links Feb 17
Response from Eurodad to the Financing for Development Elements Paper Recent posts by The BEPS Monitoring Group (BMG): BMG: The Use of Profit Splits in the Context of Global Value Chains BMG: Transfer Pricing: Risk, Recharacterisation, and Special Measures BMG: Limitation of Interest … [Read more...]
Links Feb 13
Tax havens for despots, criminals and the Fortune 500 The Washington Post Cites Nicholas Shaxson's Treasure Islands: Tax Havens And The Men Who Stole The WorldSwiss Leaks frequently asked questions answered ICIJ Politicians, regulators face questions over HSBC cases ICIJ HSBC could face … [Read more...]
Links Feb 12
Tackling tax evasion: Follow the money The Economist "As countries share more information, opportunities to squirrel away cash abroad will continue to narrow". Cites TJN on the Common Reporting Standard (CRS). Private banks must be more than laundries Financial Times (paywall) See also: … [Read more...]
Quote of the day – Swiss whitewash
From John Gapper in the Financial Times: “In the past, the Swiss private banking industry operated very differently to the way it does today,” HSBC said this week in its mea culpa. Perhaps so, but I recall Swiss banks claiming in the mid-1990s — a decade before this happened — that tax evasion was … [Read more...]
Links Feb 11
Era of bank secrecy still far from over for developing countries: Christian Aid Wall Street Pays Bankers to Work in Government and It Doesn't Want Anyone to Know New Republic Links on the #SwissLeaks revelations blogged earlier: Explore the Swiss Leaks Data ICIJ Includes links to related … [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...]
