Pandora papers

[viper37]

Won't change a thing, but here it goes, full text from the WP:Link
Among others, Jacques Villeneuve (ex Formula 1 racing pilot residing in Monaco), Tony Blair, King Abdullah, Shakira, Elton John.  Few Americans in the lot, but Cayman Islands aren't included in this list.

[Eddie Teach]

WP are greedy bastards, so can you say what this is?

[The Minsky Moment]

Leaked data from tax havens.

[Syt]

Immediate implications could be for the presidential elections in Czech Rep. Their current president (he's in the PiS/Orban mold) apparently used shell companies to buy a €15M chateau in France.

But yeah, I expect that not much will come of it, as usual, because the public doesn't care enough, and - let's face it - rich folk rarely suffer real consequences for whatever they do.

[Syt]

For those without WaPo access:

https://www.reuters.com/world/pandora-papers-document-dump-allegedly-links-world-leaders-secret-wealth-2021-10-03/

Pandora Papers: Document dump allegedly links world leaders to secret wealth

WASHINGTON, Oct 3 (Reuters) - A massive leak of financial documents was published by several major news organizations on Sunday that allegedly tie world leaders to secret stores of wealth, including King Abdullah of Jordan, Czech Prime Minister Andrej Babis and associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The dump of more than 11.9 million records, amounting to about 2.94 terabytes of data, came five years after the leak known as the "Panama Papers" exposed how money was hidden by the wealthy in ways that law enforcement agencies could not detect.

The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), a Washington, D.C.-based network of reporters and media organizations, said the files are linked to about 35 current and former national leaders, and more than 330 politicians and public officials in 91 countries and territories. It did not say how the files were obtained, and Reuters could not independently verify the allegations or documents detailed by the consortium.

Jordan's King Abdullah, a close ally of the United States, was alleged to have used offshore accounts to spend more than $100 million on luxury homes in the United Kingdom and the United States.

DLA Piper, a London law office representing Abdullah, told the consortium of media outlets that he had "not at any point misused public monies or made any use whatsoever of the proceeds of aid or assistance intended for public use."

The Washington Post, which is part of the consortium, also reported on the case of Svetlana Krivonogikh, a Russian woman who it said became the owner of a Monaco apartment through an offshore company incorporated on the Caribbean island of Tortola in April 2003 just weeks after she gave birth to a girl. At the time, she was in a secret, years-long relationship with Putin, the newspaper said, citing Russian investigative outlet Proekt.

The Post said Krivonogikh, her daughter, who is now 18, and the Kremlin did not respond to requests for comment.

Days ahead of the Czech Republic's Oct. 8-9 parliamentary election, the documents allegedly tied the country's prime minister, Babis, to a secret $22 million estate in a hilltop village near Cannes, France.

Speaking during a television debate on Sunday, Babis denied any wrongdoing.

"The money left a Czech bank, was taxed, it was my money, and returned to a Czech bank," Babis said.

The documents also showed how Indian businessman Anil Ambani and his representatives owned at least 18 offshore companies in Jersey, British Virgin Islands and Cyprus, according to the Indian Express, part of the ICIJ consortium.

Set up between 2007 and 2010, seven of these companies have borrowed and invested at least $1.3 billion, the report said.

In 2020, following a dispute with three Chinese state-controlled banks, Ambani - the chairman of Reliance Group - had told a London court his net worth was zero.

A unnamed lawyer, on behalf of Anil Ambani, told the Express: "Our client is a tax resident of India and has made disclosures to Indian authorities as required to be made in compliance with law. All required considerations were taken into account when making disclosures before the London court. The Reliance Group conducts business globally and for legitimate business and regulatory requirements, companies are incorporated in different jurisdictions."

Ambani did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters seeking comment.

[The Brain]

I don't fully get the fascination with rich people who use tax havens. If illegal stuff comes to light then that's interesting, but simply using tax havens just seems like good sense.

[Sheilbh]

Reading stories and coverage of it now. As ever UK's role in tax avoidance and corruption is as the facilitator - with lots of very clever, very nice people working for banks, other financial institutions, law firms, accountants building the infrastructure to enable this. Half of all Russian money laundering, apparently, flows through London at some point

[Syt]

A handy map:

[The Brain]

So we have a low-corruption arc from North America over Northern Europe and down through Africa and large parts of the Middle East.

[DGuller]

I don't fully get the fascination with rich people who use tax havens. If illegal stuff comes to light then that's interesting, but simply using tax havens just seems like good sense.

There are a couple of issues.  It's true that taking advantage of what current policies allow you is just good sense, but maybe if the public were truly aware of what current policies allow you, then they would want to change those policies.  Another issue is that the "I'm taking advantage of what the law allows me" argument becomes tenuous when used by the people writing the laws.  Taking advantage of the loopholes that you yourself had a hand in creating or defending is no longer prudent, now it's just downright corrupt.

[Valmy]

Wait no Americans are involved? Well that's nice not to be central to corruption and evil...in this case anyway.

[Berkut]

And tacking advantage of the tax laws that apply to you is one thing.

Attempting to circumvent those laws by moving assets out of the jurisdiction of the proper tax laws is often illegal, or at least potentially so. Doing so secretly is almost certainly illegal. I think.

[Sheilbh]

There are a couple of issues.  It's true that taking advantage of what current policies allow you is just good sense, but maybe if the public were truly aware of what current policies allow you, then they would want to change those policies.  Another issue is that the "I'm taking advantage of what the law allows me" argument becomes tenuous when used by the people writing the laws.  Taking advantage of the loopholes that you yourself had a hand in creating or defending is no longer prudent, now it's just downright corrupt.

Yes-ish. That seems to have been the Blair story for example - they just bought a property by buying the off-shore SPV that owned the building. This means they don't need to pay property tax. On the other hand that type of off-shore SPV is standard for commercial properties (which this building is, it's rented as the home to Cherie Blair's chambers). The only thing that's interesting about it is that the Blairs bought it and that it (the SPV) was previously owned by Bahrain's Minister of Tourism. There may be some corruption there because of Blair's role in the Middle East but as the building is being used by Cherie and her chambers I'm not actually that sure and if actually the real story is just that when you're dealing with a lot of commercial property in London, the ultimate beneficial owners are people like the Minister of Tourism from Bahrain or a close personal friend of Putin.

The wider stuff has, I think, two angles. One is that it immoral and unethical because it is largely a way of legitimisng a transfer of money from dubious to illegal sources from the people of developing or middle income countries to their politicians and friends, via expensive legal and financial advice from some of the richest and most developed countries in the world. I think that is wrong on a moral level. The other is that I think this money is corrupting to the countries that handle it. It may be fine for Belize to be a sunny place for shady people - it is more problematic if you have people in the UK, the Netherlands, the US with a vested interest in keeping on the flow of money from Russia and Ukraine.

Wait no Americans are involved? Well that's nice not to be central to corruption and evil...in this case anyway.

Americans are very involved in setting up the trusts the money sits in - interestingly South Dakota in the lead, but also the usual suspects like Delaware and Nevada etc.

[Josephus]

/there's a difference between tax evasion and tax shelter

[Valmy]

Americans are very involved in setting up the trusts the money sits in - interestingly South Dakota in the lead, but also the usual suspects like Delaware and Nevada etc.

Ah well. It was nice will it lasted.