By Rosie Sharpe, Money Laundering Campaigner at Global Witness. There’s been much progress recently in requiring companies to put the names of the people who own and control them – their so-called beneficial owners – into the public domain. This is really important to tackle the devastation … [Read more...]
The Mechanics of Secrecy
Update: report on the OECD’s information exchange standard
A month ago we published a preliminary report entitled ‘The end of bank secrecy?’Bridging the gap to effective automatic information exchange, looking at the OECD's new system of automatic information exchange. We have now completed our final technical analysis of the report. It is not very … [Read more...]
Huge trove of information blasts hole in Luxembourg’s theatre of probity
From the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a story we've been waiting for: "Capping a six-month investigation, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and its media partners are publishing a secret cache of leaked tax documents and dozens of … [Read more...]
Cayman Compass: Public registers would foil tax criminals
Cayman Compass has just published the following letter from TJN and Transparency International in response to an article by Carlyle Roger: … [Read more...]
Risk mining: what tax avoidance is, and exactly why it’s anti-social
Recently we wrote about a remarkable blog by Jolyon Maugham, a tax barrister, a view from the front lines, which we'll repeat again today, because it's so startling: "I have on my desk an Opinion – a piece of formal tax advice – from a prominent QC at the Tax Bar. In it, he expresses a view on the … [Read more...]
Quote of the day – on trusts and public registries
Both G8 and G20 have committed to tackling tax haven secrecy. In the past 18 months they have made specific commitments to create registers of beneficial ownership of companies, though we are far from convinced they are prepared to take every necessary step to prevent crooks from hiding behind … [Read more...]
Manhattan real estate: a little tax haven in America
From New York Magazine, a long article about the high-end New York property market, echoing recent stories (such as this one) about One Hyde Park and the British tax haven. "Those with less reflexively hostile reactions to foreign buying competition might still wonder: Who are these people? An … [Read more...]
The Swiss commodity black hole: a bizarre new government proposal
From the Berne Declaration and Swissaid: "The Federal Council today announced its wish to close the Swiss gaps in transparency for the global commodity industry. But the entire commodities trading business may well be excluded from any future regulation." … [Read more...]
Big Bills: how our central banks nurture money launderers and kleptocrats
A question for our European readers. How many of you have ever spent or even seen a 500 Euro note? No, neither have we. Which is may seem odd, given that there are some 300 billion Euros' worth of these things out there, in circulation. Which raises the question: where are they all? … [Read more...]
Insurance sector seeking to trick the OECD with giant secrecy loophole?
Update: with Gibraltar / Bermuda shenanigans. Last February the OECD, which has been mandated to set global financial transparency standards, presented a major report on a new global standard for transparency and to fight the scourge of tax evasion. We broadly welcomed the project, but noted … [Read more...]
In 2009-10, over 98 pct of Google’s and Oracle’s subsidiaries disappeared
. . . disappeared from view, that is. From the Social Science Research Network, an academic paper from last year: "From 2009 to 2010, 98 percent of Google’s and 99 percent of Oracle’s subsidiaries disappeared from the Exhibit 21s filed with their SEC Form 10Ks. However, a March 2012 search of … [Read more...]
The Offshore Wrapper: a week in tax justice
The Offshore Wrapper is written by George Turner Credit Swindle? "We were running a criminal enterprise, but we didn't know," is what reportedly Credit Suisse will soon admit in its long running dispute with the United States Justice Department over alleged involvement in assisting US … [Read more...]
On Britain’s new honesty box for corporate fraudsters.
From Prof. Prem Sikka: "Some 4,000 individuals appearing on international lists of alleged fraudsters, money launderers, terror financiers and corrupt officials were directors of UK registered companies in 2008 (the most recent data)." … [Read more...]
New book: The Political Economy of Offshore Jurisdictions
This new book adds further insights into the political economy of offshore, raising questions about why offshore has been off-limits for serious political discussion for so many decades and opening up discussion around offshore secrecy. A welcome addition to the emerging debate. … [Read more...]
Renting Judges for Secret Rulings in Delaware
Back in 1974 William Cary wrote a widely cited article about Delaware in the Yale Law Review, where he stated: "a pygmy among the 50 states prescribes, interprets, and indeed denigrates national corporate policy as an incentive to encourage incorporation within its borders, thereby increasing its … [Read more...]
