There's a new book out that looks very interesting reading from Professor Jason Sharman with the rather catchy title: The Despot’s Guide to Wealth Management: On the International Campaign against Grand Corruption. It has been reviewed here in The Economist. We haven't read it yet, but this study … [Read more...]
Corruption
Ownership Avoidance, the Great Escape in the Tax Justice Network December 2016 Podcast
In our December 2016 Taxcast: In trusts we trust? We look at the new game in town: beneficial ownership avoidance, the booming industry in alternative escape vehicles from public registers and why we must shine the spotlight on all of them. Plus: we discuss two big stories we think will define … [Read more...]
Neoliberalism and the Moral Economy of Fraud: book review by Atul Shah
In Neoliberalism and the Moral Economy of Fraud, (Routledge, 2016) David Whyte and Jörg Wiegratz offer an edited collection exploring how neoliberalism has enabled the proliferation of systemic fraud across different geographical and social settings. … [Read more...]
French activists occupy BNP Paribas to protest against offshore secrecy jurisdictions
French activists occupy a branch of BNP Paribas to protest against that bank's deep engagement in offshore secrecy jurisdictions. … [Read more...]
The Kleptocracy Curse and the threat to global security
This is well worth watching: journalist and author of Author of 'Fragile Empire' and 'This Is London' and Ben Judah presents his report at the Hudson Institute on how kleptocrats and what he calls the 'global wealth defence industry' (or the secrecy and tax avoidance/evasion industry) is wreaking … [Read more...]
Quote of the day – the future of tax havens
From Joseph Stiglitz, writing in Vanity Fair: "It will not be long before those nations that opt to continue with old-style secrecy will be labeled pariah states and be cut off from the global financial system." New and abusive games will continue to emerge to fill the vacuum left by old-style … [Read more...]
UN report recommends: go after tax havens, and protect whistleblowers
From the United Nations General Assembly, the fifth report of the Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order. The summary goes like this: "The report focuses on impacts of taxation on human rights and explores the challenges posed to the international … [Read more...]
Quote of the day – tax crimes and traffic offences
From Michael West, an Australian tax journalist: "In Australia, Part 4a of the Tax Act deems that the principal purpose of a transaction should be commercial (rather than tax driven). In light of the proliferation of tax haven activities by Australian companies this law, Part 4a, must be the most … [Read more...]
The Bahamas tax haven – a (re-)emerging global menace?
Update: as it happens, The Economist has just published an excellent story about the Bahamas, subtitled The Bahamas Cocks a Snook at the War on Tax Dodgers. (Our only beef with that subtitle is that this is about so much more than just tax.) We've periodically remarked on the Bahamas as a secrecy … [Read more...]
Why the Swiss case against whistleblower Elmer may hurt the bankers
Rudolf Elmer, the Cayman-based Swiss whistleblower who went to prison after spilling secrets relating to the Swiss bank Julius Baer, has long been victimised not only by the Swiss banking establishment, and Switzerland's courts (which as we've extensively documented, seem to have played fast and … [Read more...]
Top tax expert: Big 4 “accountants of fortune” must be broken up
In March The Economist magazine rang alarm bells (again) about a rise in concentrated market power: a problem where the biggest firms get ever bigger and more like monopolies, making it easy to extract wealth from the rest of us (as opposed to creating wealth.) This, in turn fosters steeper … [Read more...]
Kenya tax haven approaching: secrecy to be enforced with prison terms
We have for a while been sounding alarms about the emergence of (yet) another tax haven/secrecy jurisdiction in Kenya. A few months ago we quoted the newspaper African Arguments: “Anti-corruption campaigner John Githongo has warned that in this setting, the NIFC “would be like a financial crime … [Read more...]
Swiss whistleblower Rudolf Elmer: ‘they want to crucify me, as an example to other bankers’
Rudolf Elmer, the Swiss whistleblower who has been pursued by Swiss courts for a decade and served over half a year in prison while accused of (according to Switzerland's peculiar courts) violating the Swiss banking secrecy law, now faces two more court trials: one, on June 23rd, as part of the … [Read more...]
Switzerland is handing back looted money. How big a deal is this?
In the context of a fun Twitter fight and finger-pointing between the Swiss Bankers' Association and the German Finance Ministry, there's a newish story on Quartz entitled Swiss bankers swear they are trying to help Africa get its dirty money back. It begins like this: "It irritates Valentin … [Read more...]
TJN sparring partner caught up in Panama Papers scandal
Back in 2005 a lobby group in Washington, D.C. issued a press release entitled Tax Justice Network Sides with Europe's Tax Collectors, Ignores Critical Role of Low-Tax Jurisdiction in Protecting Human Rights and Promoting Pro-Growth Policy. The bizarre press release accused us of putting at risk … [Read more...]
