Luxembourg in art attack You’d think tax havens have their hands full with exotic financial products and shell companies. Well now they are trying to cash in on a new form of financial secrecy – high value art. … [Read more...]
The Offshore Wrapper
Offshore Wrapper #52 – a year in tax justice
Gulliver’s circuitous travels More details of HSBC account holders continue to emerge. The latest embarrassing tale concerns Stuart Gulliver, the CEO of the godawful bank. Born in Derby, England, and educated in lush, leafy Devon, he now works in London. But despite his obvious English roots, … [Read more...]
The Offshore Wrapper: a week in tax justice #51
No tax please, we’re British Where to start with HSBC and the SwissLeaks scandal? How about with the UK government’s wilful negligence when it comes to dealing with tax evasion? … [Read more...]
The Offshore Wrapper: a week in tax justice #50
Blood diamonds in Africa, terrorism in the Middle East, drug cartels in Mexico and tax evasion in Switzerland. HSBC truly is the world’s loco bank. … [Read more...]
The Offshore Wrapper: a week in tax justice #49
The African Union gets tough on illicit financial flows African Union leaders meeting in Ethiopia last weekend adopted a report from Thabo Mbeki’s UN High Level Panel on Illicit Financial Flows. … [Read more...]
The Offshore Wrapper: a week in tax justice #48
Greece is the word Syriza’s election triumph in Greece has provoked media and financial markets hysteria. Overnight the Euro hit a ten year low against the dollar. Here at Wrapper Towers we have been reflecting on the politics of debt reduction and would like to sprinkle some facts. … [Read more...]
The Offshore Wrapper: a week in tax justice #47
Dodgy tax deals constitute illegal state aid? Even before the LuxLeaks scandal broke, the European Commission had been undertaking an investigation of advance tax agreements between companies and tax havens. … [Read more...]
The Offshore Wrapper: a week in tax justice #46
HSBC: the world’s local naughtiest bank? The Lagarde list, a leaked document containing the names of thousands of people with secret bank accounts at HSBC Switzerland, continues to cause problems for the global banking giant. … [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...]
The Offshore Wrapper: a week in tax justice #44
Shoot the Messenger Last week banks and accountants reacted to unwelcome revelations over their tax advice by attacking the messenger. Court appearances of two whistleblowers who revealed the scale of tax avoidance by international financial institutions went a long way to proving the adage: … [Read more...]
The Offshore Wrapper: a week in tax justice #43
If you want to break the law, ask a lawyer It is not often that this hardheaded Wrapper reporter goes weak at the knees with anticipation. But last week, it emerged that the UK’s Solicitor’s Regulation Authority is investigating what a senior manager there described as “genuinely shocking” cases … [Read more...]
The Offshore Wrapper: a week in tax justice #42
Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the most corrupt of them all? This week sees the release of Transparency International’s annual Corruption Perception Index. The report measures perceived levels of corruption in the public sector in 177 countries. Certain countries in Africa, Latin America and … [Read more...]
The Offshore Wrapper: a week in tax justice #41
HSBC – the world’s favourite illicit bank? HSBC Switzerland has been charged by French authorities for “illicit financial and banking practices”. … [Read more...]
The Offshore Wrapper: a week in tax justice #40
UK Beneficial Ownership Registry: kicked in the Djangoolies? A public register of beneficial ownership is seen by many as a vital tool in the fight against global tax evasion, money laundering and other illicit flows. The UK has so far been a leader on this issue and wishes to be one of the first … [Read more...]
The Offshore Wrapper: a week in tax justice #39 – a Luxembourg Special
Throw the Junck out When Jean-Claude Juncker (pictured) was elected as the president of the European Commission last May, staff at Wrapper Towers had to go into a darkened room. Others went straight to the bar. … [Read more...]
