"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...]
The Mechanics of Secrecy
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...]
Tax Haven USA: Congress moves to end corporate secrecy
Earlier this week we blogged a groundbreaking exposé of how US law firms advise on shifting dirty money into the USA. Now we hear that bipartisan legislation is being proposed to help stamp out corruption, money laundering and tax evasion by curbing use of anonymously-owned companies in America. … [Read more...]
Tax Haven USA – part one: 12 New York law firms advise on how to move dirty money to the USA
12 New York law firms filmed suggesting how to move suspect money into the US & avoid detection Ground-Breaking exposé by Global Witness shows how the corrupt can exploit anonymously-owned companies … [Read more...]
Tax haven USA: new Bloomberg story adds urgency to reform needs
Bloomberg is running a story entitled The World’s Favorite New Tax Haven Is the United States, which closely follows the line that TJN has been taking, particularly since our big Loophole USA blog a year ago, and our subsequent USA Report for the Financial Secrecy Index last October. Expanding … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]
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 … [Read more...]
Rangers lose the big tax case: what now?
The Offshore Game, a TJN-supported site dedicated to looking at tax havenry in sport, published this long article about Scotland's Rangers football club yesterday. It is important not just for the interests involved, but because of principles at stake, not least concerning discretionary trusts (see … [Read more...]
TJN unveils its new Financial Secrecy Index
Today the Tax Justice Network launches the 2015 Financial Secrecy Index, the biggest ever survey of global financial secrecy. This unique index combines a secrecy score with a weighting to create a ranking of the secrecy jurisdictions and countries that most actively promote secrecy in global … [Read more...]
How 1/8th of Moldova’s GDP vanished, via a Scottish council flat
From the BBC: "The UK is one of the easiest countries in the world to set up a company in, and some agents offer to do it in an hour, for as little as £25." In standard parlance, this makes the UK an 'efficient' place to set up a company, reassuringly free of that pesky 'red tape.' All good stuff. … [Read more...]
Holes in new OECD handbook for global financial transparency
The OECD, a club of rich countries that dominates rule-setting for global financial transparency standards, recently published a Handbook for implementing its new global tool for countries to co-operate in fighting tax evasion, known as the Common Reporting Standard (CRS). The new handbook is part … [Read more...]
