Links Jul 4

Kenya: AG goes after billions held illegally abroad Business Daily

Jul 4 - Attorney-General Githu Muigai said "The office under the new law has been mandated to act as the asset recovery authority. We have received materials from Switzerland, Japan, United Kingdom, Jersey and other countries where billions of shillings are being held illegally."

France: Mystery of the L'Oreal heir, 'Mr Nicolas' and the envelopes stuffed with euros Guardian
Jul 3 - Saga of tax evasion, large cash transfers from Swiss bank accounts, and allegations of illegal campaign contributions.

Romney's offshore wealth deeply hidden Agence France Presse
Jul 4 - More on Nicholas Shaxson's Vanity Fair report ---"While his campaign insists Romney has not exploited the offshore havens to avoid paying necessary US taxes, the difficulty in tracking the overseas transactions and holdings raises questions about the candidate's finances in the heat of a campaign."

U.S.: Documentary Tackles Corporate Tax Evasion Citizens for Tax Justice
Jul 2 -  Reporting on a recent screening of "We're Not Broke."

IRS Says Offshore Tax Disclosures Have Yielded $5 Billion Bloomberg
Jun 26 - "The IRS and the Justice Department have been pursuing criminal cases against U.S. taxpayers with undeclared assets around the world. In many cases, the U.S. has used data on promoters, advisers and bankers that it gleaned from voluntary disclosures."

Target Promoters Of 'Dodgy' Tax Schemes, CIOT Says Tax-News
Jul 4 - Head of the Chartered Institute of Taxation has said "The UK's mis-selling laws could be used to crack down on promoters of 'dodgy' tax schemes."

Moving Manchester United to the Cayman Islands football365
Jul 4 - News on the famous British football (soccer) club - "Under the reorganisation, the team would become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Manchester United Ltd, a newly-formed holding company based in the Cayman Islands." See comment on Tax Research UK.

Guatemala Debt Beats Regional Peers As Tax Plan Reverses Deficit Bloomberg
Jul 4 - Reporting on Guatemala's economy - includes strengthening measures against tax evasion.

The World’s Wealth Capgemini/RBC
From The World Wealth Report 2012: "The population of high net worth individuals edged slightly higher in 2011 while global wealth declined."

Tilting the power balance back towards fairness Financial Times
Jul 3 - Letter from Philip Jennings, General Secretary, UNI Global Union, Switzerland - "The crisis is a direct result of a system rigged for the benefit of the elite ... Democracy has to tilt the power balance back toward fairness, transparency and inclusion. Only through a global independent inquiry with the power of sanctions will this be possible."