Links - March 9
** Also see our searchable archive of past story summaries; and Offshore Watch. **
Jersey visitors on 12th - 13th March - Wish You Were Here
March 9 (TJN) - On 12th/13th March 2009 civil society organisations from across Europe, including some of the largest economic justice coalitions, will be visiting Jersey. This provides essential background and links, and an invitation.
Inequality and the spirit level
March 8 (TJN) – Book review from The Economist. "Within the rich world, where destitution is rare, countries where incomes are more evenly distributed have longer-lived citizens and lower rates of obesity, delinquency, depression and teenage pregnancy than richer countries where wealth is more concentrated."
The cat is out of the bag
March 8 (TJN) - Gordon Brown also has a choice: to act against tax havens or limit himself to empty rhetoric. He would like to be thought of as a long-standing champion of global financial regulation. The reality is that, by what happens at the G-20 summit, he will be judged a late convert at best, otherwise a hypocrite."
Bono and the tax justice debate in Ireland
The controversey surrounding U2's tax affairs has generated a huge discussion in Ireland on economic justice issues. Jamie Drummond, from Bono's agency DATA, has stirred the pot by trying to shift the focus away from tax avoidance to tax evasion, but the public response suggests that this ploy has not worked - as the following selection of letters suggests.
Sanctions on secrecy jurisdictions
March 6 (Tax Research) - I think there are two forms of sanction available. One is the head on attack like the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act. Germany is also looking at arrangements like this in draft legislation published in January. The second group might be described as ‘work-round’ sanctions: measures that will neuter the impact of tax havens with out directly confronting them.
Brown does a U-turn on tax havens with blacklist
March 8 (Observer) – Gordon Brown is preparing to unveil a blacklist of harmful tax havens to be published before the crucial London G20 meeting next month. The list is expected to include offshore centres linked to Britain, including the Cayman Islands and Bermuda.
Tax haven bankers vow to keep their secrets
March 6 (Euronews) - Three major European countries with banking secrecy laws have warned against any attempt by the G20 group of nations to place them on a tax haven blacklist. A G20 summit is due next month and tackling tax avoidance is on the agenda, but Switzerland, Luxembourg and Austria are not members. They have vowed to protect their practices
UBS says had 47K accounts for Americans
March 4 (AP) -- UBS AG now says it had about 47,000 accounts held by Americans who didn't pay U.S. taxes on their assets, but Switzerland's biggest bank is providing the names of only 300 American clients to the U.S. government in a showdown over secrecy.
Jersey raises floodwalls as tax storm brews
March 8 (Reuters) - Jersey's village-like capital features many of the brands typically found in any British town: Ladbrokes betting shop, retailer Marks and Spencer and Boots the drugstore. But step down a side street on this plush island off the French coast, and almost every other building bears the name of a private equity, wealth management, or banking firm.
Credit Suisse targets wealthiest Mexicans
March 5 (Reuters) - Credit Suisse said on Thursday it is launching a private banking business in Mexico to manage investments for the country's rich, a segment it says is growing, despite a slumping economy.
Swiss keen to decouple secrecy and tax evasion:
Match 7 (Swissinfo) - Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz has issued the strongest hint yet that Switzerland might change its view on tax evasion in order to preserve banking secrecy.
Brits looking for possible Madoff money laundering
March 6 (Newsday) - British fraud investigators are probing the activities of accused Wall Street scammer Bernard Madoff's London office for possible money laundering, a law enforcement source said Thursday.
Panama a poster child for tax evasion
March 6 (Panama Star) - The attack on Panama’s tax haven reputation and with it the potential Free Trade Agreement (FTA) continues. A civil organization called Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch Division has joined the list of Panama’s detractors and sent a letter to the US House of Representative on March 3, in which it launched a vitriolic attack against the FTA between the two countries.
Solicitor Held in U.S. Charge of Involvement in Nigeria Bribery
March 6 (Guardian) - A British solicitor was arrested yesterday over allegations that he broke US anti-corruption laws by channelling millions of pounds in bribes to Nigerian officials to win construction contracts.
Obama bid to stamp out tax havens
March 5 (Guardian) - The world's most secretive tax havens are to be prised open after Barack Obama's new administration endorsed far-reaching legislation to crack down on them.
UBS Executives May Face Prosecution in Tax Evasion Inquiry
March 5 (New York Times) - In testimony before a Senate subcommittee, a top Justice Department official said the agency might prosecute senior UBS executives as part of its investigation into whether the Swiss bank helped scores of wealthy Americans evade billions of dollars in taxes.
US charges two Britons with bribes in KBR venture
March 5 (Reuters) - Two British citizens face charges of bribing Nigerian officials as part of a joint venture that included KBR Inc to build liquefied natural gas facilities, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday. Jeffrey Tesler was arrested in London on Thursday, the same day as the indictment handed down in February was made public, the department said. Former KBR employee Wojciech Chodan, of England, was being sought on a U.S. arrest warrant. The department said it was seeking extradition of the suspects, and forfeiture of $130 million from the two. KBR, a former engineering subsidiary of Halliburton Co pleaded guilty last month to federal charges that it paid $180 million in bribes to Nigerian officials.
Morgan Stanley’s Chinese Land Scandal
March 1 (NY Times) - SHANGHAI — Since the height of China’s property boom, Morgan Stanley’s huge real estate deals here have been the envy of the industry. Then, scandal hit. Last month, with property prices here and elsewhere in free fall, the bank dropped a bombshell: in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, it said it had fired an executive in its China real estate division after uncovering evidence that he might have violated the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars American business people from bribing foreign officials.
IRS Eyes Wider Net to Catch Tax Cheats
March 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. Internal Revenue Service may team up with other governments to crack down on tax cheats as it faces pressure to toughen rules on Americans who try to conceal income at offshore tax havens, a senior IRS lawyer told Reuters on Tuesday.
EU says it could sanction tax havens
March 4 (AP) - The European Union could sanction tax haven states that refuse to share information on tax evasion and money laundering, the EU's Commission President said Wednesday. Jose Manuel Barroso said "it should be possible for us to apply penalties" against countries that don't cooperate with European tax authorities or financial supervisors. "All financial entities should be subject to a certain degree of supervision." He said the EU would propose new rules on banking supervision by the end of May and new laws for hedge funds, private equity funds and executive payments by the end of April.
UBS Case Shows Need to Bolster Offshore Bank Laws
March 4 (Bloomberg) -- UBS AG’s refusal to surrender the names of as many as 52,000 Americans suspected of using Switzerland’s largest bank to avoid taxes shows that a U.S. tax treaty with that country is ineffective, a top Senate Democrat said.
US names Antigua and Barbuda among major money laundering jurisdictions
March 3 (Antigua Sun) – The United States has named four Caribbean Community (Caricom) member states among 59 major money laundering jurisdictions. In its 2009 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, the State Department identified Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize and Haiti among “jurisdictions of primary concern.”
BAE Lobbyist Arrested on Jet Bribery Probe Placed in Custody
March 1 (Bloomberg) - A BAE Systems Plc lobbyist arrested in Austria on suspicion of bribing officials in Hungary and the Czech Republic to win contracts for Europe’s biggest defense company has been held in custody.
Salmond’s top economic adviser uses Cayman Islands tax haven
Mar 3 (Sunday Herald) – The chief economic adviser of Alex Salmond, the First Minister of Scotland, is at the centre of a tax avoidance row after it emerged that his investment group's hedge fund is running businesses from a tax haven.
Challenge of recession to aggressive transfer pricing
Feb 6 (The Hindu) - Across the globe, there has been a substantial increase in transfer pricing (TP) audits and disputes, observes Mr Rohan K. Phatarphekar, Executive Director & National Head, Global Transfer Pricing Services, KPMG India.
Bribery and corruption
Mar 1 (Thought Leader) - Why corruption became institutionalized at Siemens.
It's hypocrisy to leave British tax havens open
Observer weighs in on the case for G-20 to tackle secrecy jurisdictions:
President Obama's First Budget: Not Perfect, But a Massive Improvement Over the Recent Past
March (CTJ) - Thursday, President Obama sent his budget blueprint to Congress. While many of the details remain to be seen, it's the most progressive budget we've seen in years. It's also a more honest budget than the last administration ever proposed.
Tax haven for German ICT firms to disappear
Nov 12 (The Register) - Does Norderfriedrichskoog really need an IT company to serve a community of just 47 inhabitants and a dozen thatched homesteads 200 kilometres north of Hamburg ? Well, yes. According to the Offshore Financial Review, it is the world's most unfashionable tax haven. The village (with only two streets) levies no trade tax, thanks to a decree issued 300 years ago by a local duke.
Jersey visitors on 12th - 13th March - Wish You Were Here
March 9 (TJN) - On 12th/13th March 2009 civil society organisations from across Europe, including some of the largest economic justice coalitions, will be visiting Jersey. This provides essential background and links, and an invitation.
Inequality and the spirit level
March 8 (TJN) – Book review from The Economist. "Within the rich world, where destitution is rare, countries where incomes are more evenly distributed have longer-lived citizens and lower rates of obesity, delinquency, depression and teenage pregnancy than richer countries where wealth is more concentrated."
The cat is out of the bag
March 8 (TJN) - Gordon Brown also has a choice: to act against tax havens or limit himself to empty rhetoric. He would like to be thought of as a long-standing champion of global financial regulation. The reality is that, by what happens at the G-20 summit, he will be judged a late convert at best, otherwise a hypocrite."
Bono and the tax justice debate in Ireland
The controversey surrounding U2's tax affairs has generated a huge discussion in Ireland on economic justice issues. Jamie Drummond, from Bono's agency DATA, has stirred the pot by trying to shift the focus away from tax avoidance to tax evasion, but the public response suggests that this ploy has not worked - as the following selection of letters suggests.
Sanctions on secrecy jurisdictions
March 6 (Tax Research) - I think there are two forms of sanction available. One is the head on attack like the Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act. Germany is also looking at arrangements like this in draft legislation published in January. The second group might be described as ‘work-round’ sanctions: measures that will neuter the impact of tax havens with out directly confronting them.
Brown does a U-turn on tax havens with blacklist
March 8 (Observer) – Gordon Brown is preparing to unveil a blacklist of harmful tax havens to be published before the crucial London G20 meeting next month. The list is expected to include offshore centres linked to Britain, including the Cayman Islands and Bermuda.
Tax haven bankers vow to keep their secrets
March 6 (Euronews) - Three major European countries with banking secrecy laws have warned against any attempt by the G20 group of nations to place them on a tax haven blacklist. A G20 summit is due next month and tackling tax avoidance is on the agenda, but Switzerland, Luxembourg and Austria are not members. They have vowed to protect their practices
UBS says had 47K accounts for Americans
March 4 (AP) -- UBS AG now says it had about 47,000 accounts held by Americans who didn't pay U.S. taxes on their assets, but Switzerland's biggest bank is providing the names of only 300 American clients to the U.S. government in a showdown over secrecy.
Jersey raises floodwalls as tax storm brews
March 8 (Reuters) - Jersey's village-like capital features many of the brands typically found in any British town: Ladbrokes betting shop, retailer Marks and Spencer and Boots the drugstore. But step down a side street on this plush island off the French coast, and almost every other building bears the name of a private equity, wealth management, or banking firm.
Credit Suisse targets wealthiest Mexicans
March 5 (Reuters) - Credit Suisse said on Thursday it is launching a private banking business in Mexico to manage investments for the country's rich, a segment it says is growing, despite a slumping economy.
Swiss keen to decouple secrecy and tax evasion:
Match 7 (Swissinfo) - Finance Minister Hans-Rudolf Merz has issued the strongest hint yet that Switzerland might change its view on tax evasion in order to preserve banking secrecy.
Brits looking for possible Madoff money laundering
March 6 (Newsday) - British fraud investigators are probing the activities of accused Wall Street scammer Bernard Madoff's London office for possible money laundering, a law enforcement source said Thursday.
Panama a poster child for tax evasion
March 6 (Panama Star) - The attack on Panama’s tax haven reputation and with it the potential Free Trade Agreement (FTA) continues. A civil organization called Public Citizen’s Global Trade Watch Division has joined the list of Panama’s detractors and sent a letter to the US House of Representative on March 3, in which it launched a vitriolic attack against the FTA between the two countries.
Solicitor Held in U.S. Charge of Involvement in Nigeria Bribery
March 6 (Guardian) - A British solicitor was arrested yesterday over allegations that he broke US anti-corruption laws by channelling millions of pounds in bribes to Nigerian officials to win construction contracts.
Obama bid to stamp out tax havens
March 5 (Guardian) - The world's most secretive tax havens are to be prised open after Barack Obama's new administration endorsed far-reaching legislation to crack down on them.
UBS Executives May Face Prosecution in Tax Evasion Inquiry
March 5 (New York Times) - In testimony before a Senate subcommittee, a top Justice Department official said the agency might prosecute senior UBS executives as part of its investigation into whether the Swiss bank helped scores of wealthy Americans evade billions of dollars in taxes.
US charges two Britons with bribes in KBR venture
March 5 (Reuters) - Two British citizens face charges of bribing Nigerian officials as part of a joint venture that included KBR Inc to build liquefied natural gas facilities, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday. Jeffrey Tesler was arrested in London on Thursday, the same day as the indictment handed down in February was made public, the department said. Former KBR employee Wojciech Chodan, of England, was being sought on a U.S. arrest warrant. The department said it was seeking extradition of the suspects, and forfeiture of $130 million from the two. KBR, a former engineering subsidiary of Halliburton Co pleaded guilty last month to federal charges that it paid $180 million in bribes to Nigerian officials.
Morgan Stanley’s Chinese Land Scandal
March 1 (NY Times) - SHANGHAI — Since the height of China’s property boom, Morgan Stanley’s huge real estate deals here have been the envy of the industry. Then, scandal hit. Last month, with property prices here and elsewhere in free fall, the bank dropped a bombshell: in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing, it said it had fired an executive in its China real estate division after uncovering evidence that he might have violated the United States Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which bars American business people from bribing foreign officials.
IRS Eyes Wider Net to Catch Tax Cheats
March 4 (Reuters) - The U.S. Internal Revenue Service may team up with other governments to crack down on tax cheats as it faces pressure to toughen rules on Americans who try to conceal income at offshore tax havens, a senior IRS lawyer told Reuters on Tuesday.
EU says it could sanction tax havens
March 4 (AP) - The European Union could sanction tax haven states that refuse to share information on tax evasion and money laundering, the EU's Commission President said Wednesday. Jose Manuel Barroso said "it should be possible for us to apply penalties" against countries that don't cooperate with European tax authorities or financial supervisors. "All financial entities should be subject to a certain degree of supervision." He said the EU would propose new rules on banking supervision by the end of May and new laws for hedge funds, private equity funds and executive payments by the end of April.
UBS Case Shows Need to Bolster Offshore Bank Laws
March 4 (Bloomberg) -- UBS AG’s refusal to surrender the names of as many as 52,000 Americans suspected of using Switzerland’s largest bank to avoid taxes shows that a U.S. tax treaty with that country is ineffective, a top Senate Democrat said.
US names Antigua and Barbuda among major money laundering jurisdictions
March 3 (Antigua Sun) – The United States has named four Caribbean Community (Caricom) member states among 59 major money laundering jurisdictions. In its 2009 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, the State Department identified Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Belize and Haiti among “jurisdictions of primary concern.”
BAE Lobbyist Arrested on Jet Bribery Probe Placed in Custody
March 1 (Bloomberg) - A BAE Systems Plc lobbyist arrested in Austria on suspicion of bribing officials in Hungary and the Czech Republic to win contracts for Europe’s biggest defense company has been held in custody.
Salmond’s top economic adviser uses Cayman Islands tax haven
Mar 3 (Sunday Herald) – The chief economic adviser of Alex Salmond, the First Minister of Scotland, is at the centre of a tax avoidance row after it emerged that his investment group's hedge fund is running businesses from a tax haven.
Challenge of recession to aggressive transfer pricing
Feb 6 (The Hindu) - Across the globe, there has been a substantial increase in transfer pricing (TP) audits and disputes, observes Mr Rohan K. Phatarphekar, Executive Director & National Head, Global Transfer Pricing Services, KPMG India.
Bribery and corruption
Mar 1 (Thought Leader) - Why corruption became institutionalized at Siemens.
It's hypocrisy to leave British tax havens open
Observer weighs in on the case for G-20 to tackle secrecy jurisdictions:
President Obama's First Budget: Not Perfect, But a Massive Improvement Over the Recent Past
March (CTJ) - Thursday, President Obama sent his budget blueprint to Congress. While many of the details remain to be seen, it's the most progressive budget we've seen in years. It's also a more honest budget than the last administration ever proposed.
Tax haven for German ICT firms to disappear
Nov 12 (The Register) - Does Norderfriedrichskoog really need an IT company to serve a community of just 47 inhabitants and a dozen thatched homesteads 200 kilometres north of Hamburg ? Well, yes. According to the Offshore Financial Review, it is the world's most unfashionable tax haven. The village (with only two streets) levies no trade tax, thanks to a decree issued 300 years ago by a local duke.
posted by TJN at 6:16 am
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