Панама

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Полиция провела обыски в штаб-квартире УЕФА из-за материалов об офшорах

Полиция Швейцарии провела обыски в офисе Союза европейских футбольных ассоциаций (УЕФА) в рамках расследования дела о панамских офшорах. Об этом в среду, 6 апреля, сообщает «Би-би-си».

Имя бывшего генерального секретаря УЕФА, а ныне президента Международной федерации футбола (ФИФА) Джанни Инфатино упоминалось в документах по офшорам. В 2006 году он продал права на трансляцию матчей Лиги чемпионов компании Cross Trading.

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По данным материалов, компания выплатила по контракту 111 тысяч долларов и сразу перепродала права эквадорской вещательной корпорации Teleamazonas за 311 тысяч долларов. Позднее ФБР уличало владельцев Cross Trading — бизнесмена Хьюго Джинкиса (Hugo Jinkis) и его сына Мариано (Mariano) — в мошенничестве.

В ходе обысков полиция изъяла из штаб-квартиры УЕФА детали контракта. В Союзе подтвердили произведенные обыски и пообещали всецело сотрудничать с правоохранительными органами. УЕФА при этом отрицает факты нарушений со стороны должностных лиц организации и торговых партнеров.

3 апреля Международный консорциум журналистских расследований (ICIJ) совместно с Организацией по информированию об организованной преступности и коррупции (OCCRP) опубликовал масштабное расследование, основанное на документах панамского регистратора офшоров Mossack Fonseca. Эти документы неизвестный источник передал немецкой газете Süddeutsche Zeitung. Журналисты нашли информацию об офшорах множества известных спортсменов, звезд кино и политиков.

 

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В Исландии из-за офшорного скандала сменился премьер

Сигурдур Инги Йоханссон

Правящая в Исландии правоцентристская коалиция одобрила назначение на пост главы правительства министра рыбного хозяйства Сигурдура Инги Йоханссона. Об этом сообщает Reuters со ссылкой на депутата Прогрессивной партии Хоскульдур Торальссона.

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В свою очередь, лидер Пиратской партии Биргитта Йонсдоттир сообщила, что парламентская оппозиция договорилась с правящей коалицией о проведении осенью 2016 года досрочных выборов.

Смена премьер-министра Исландии произошла в связи с тем, что прежний глава кабмина Сигмюндюр Давид Гюннлёйгссон оказался замешан в скандале с офшорами. 5 апреля сообщалось, что он подал в отставку, однако позднее офис Гюннлёйгссона заявил, что он «лишь временно перестанет исполнять обязанности премьера».

4 апреля Гюннлёйгссон заявил, что не покинет свой пост, к чему его призывала оппозиция. «Правительство работает хорошо, — сказал премьер. — Прогресс налицо, и теперь важно дать кабинету завершить начатое. Что думает народ, мы выясним на следующих выборах».

В воскресенье, 3 апреля, Международный консорциум журналистских расследований (ICIJ) совместно с Организацией по информированию об организованной преступности и коррупции (OCCRP) опубликовал материалы об офшорных счетах многих мировых политиков и общественных деятелей. Среди прочих преданы гласности документы о том, что с 2007 года Гюннлёйгссон вместе с женой владели на Виргинских островах фирмой Wintris. О наличии этой компании будущий премьер не отчитался после избрания в парламент в 2009 году.

 

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Озабоченным преследованием Соросом и прочими госдепами россиянам посвящается. Найдите ченить про Россию:

Panama Papers only a glimpse into 'astonishing' wealth stashed offshore
Some estimates suggest between 8 and 14 per cent of global wealth is kept in tax havens
By Lucas Powers, CBC News Posted: Apr 06, 2016 11:00 AM ET Last Updated: Apr 06, 2016 11:00 AM ET

It's estimated that at least $7 trillion and up to $32 trillion is currently kept in holdings in tax havens. (Eric Gaillard/Reuters)

(Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external links.)

The provocative revelations coming out of the so-called Panama Papers are just a glimpse into the murky global network that's keeping "absolutely astonishing" amounts of money out of public coffers.

The 11.5 million files taken from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca show how the financial elite exploit a secretive system to manoeuvre wealth anonymously and ensure the taxman doesn't take his cut.

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The firm is "the world's fourth biggest provider of offshore services," according to the Guardian, with about $42 million in yearly revenue. The documents contain information about more than 214,000 shell companies, trusts and foundations — usually used to hold or transfer financial assets while obfuscating the identity of their real owner — that were registered with the firm.

"That gives a sense of the tremendous scope of this in terms of the flows of money into these largely mysterious companies, and this is only one firm," says Nicholas Shaxson, an investigative journalist and author of Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men who Stole the World.

It's difficult to delineate what constitutes a tax haven but it's generally agreed that, depending on the criteria, there are between 70 and 92 states serving as such worldwide. And there's an estimated two million shell companies registered with offshore firms in these states.

(CBC)

"For a long time, people thought of tax havens as an exotic sideshow of the world economy. Now it's clear they are absolutely central to it. We're talking about absolutely astonishing, mind-boggling amounts of money," Shaxson says.

Estimates of how much wealth is currently stashed offshore vary considerably, a reflection of the opacity of an industry that some economists contend has grown exponentially in recent decades.

Gabriel Zucman, author of The Hidden Wealth of Nations and a professor at the University of California at Berkeley, puts the figure at least $7.6 trillion.

• How Canada's banks help money move in and out of tax havens
• 5 big leaks of offshore financial data

But the Tax Justice Network, an international research and advocacy organization, says the number is far greater. The group estimates that as of 2010, there was between $21 and $32 trillion kept in offshore holdings. That would represent between eight and 13 per cent of total global wealth.

Resource drain
Perhaps most troubling, according to one economist, is that somewhere in the ballpark of $1 trillion is illegally funneled out of developing nations each year into mysterious shell companies.

It's a system that bolsters kleptocracy and corruption, says Matt Salomon, chief economist with Global Financial Integrity.

"It's a real resource drain in countries where the money is needed most. At the same time, wealthier nations are standing by as this is happening, insisting that they support development in these places," he says.

"It's possible that the $1-trillion figure only represents a drop in the bucket since the data is so murky."

Many of the dealings facilitated by offshore firms are entirely legal and are encouraged by major financial institutions the world over. Canada's biggest lender, RBC, was named in the Panama Papers, having used Mossack Fonseca to set up at least 370 shell companies for clients.

It's estimated that about $1 trillion is funnelled out of developing countries each year. Money generated from major natural resource extraction projects, for example, can be siphoned off and hidden in offshore accounts. (Thierry Gouegnon/Reuters)

There's a broiling public anger over a system that so blatantly favours the wealthy and operates with near impunity, says Shaxson. It's putting pressure on governments to finally crack down on tax dodgers that cost countries billions each year.

Canada alone loses between $6 and $7.8 billion annually to offshore tax havens, according to a report in the Toronto Star. In response, the federal government dedicated $440 million over four years in the 2016 budget to probe tax evasion and what the Canada Revenue Agency called "aggressive tax avoidance."

Even before the Panama Papers prompted public outrage though, more than 100 countries since 2014 had committed to increasing transparency around the financial holdings of foreign customers.



The U.S. is among the countries resisting these changes. States like Delaware, Nevada and South Dakota allow for levels of anonymity and secrecy that "rival any of the countries we usually think of as tax havens," says James Henry, former chief economist at the consulting firm McKinsey.

'The level of anger is higher than ever'
"It's insufficient to just say 'offshore tax havens' because the industry has expanded so aggressively to countries around the globe," adds Henry, now a fellow at Columbia and Yale.

Despite big promises from governments, real reform will not come easily. Tax havens and all the perks that come with them "are the projects of some of the world's wealthiest people," says Shaxson.

'People are beginning to realize how extensive the offshore system is, and there is a rapidly rising public anger over that,' says Nicholas Shaxson. Protesters in Iceland called for the resignation of the country's prime minister after the Panama Papers revealed he had offshore accounts that he allegedly never disclosed. (Stigtryggur Johannsson/Reuters)

There's a lot of money to be made by interests with considerable political clout, Henry notes, and the very nature of the business makes it difficult for so-called crackdowns to be effective. Financial institutions rarely face any significant consequences, and past investigations have ended up completely toothless.

"Look, for decades, governments have known about this, law enforcement have known about this and the response has been pretty pathetic. I think the reasons for that are pretty clear at this point," Henry says.

"But the level of anger is higher than ever, and it will probably only intensify as more stories come out of the leak."

 

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Или тут:

Inversions, Panama schemes mean the ordinary wage-earner gets stuck paying the taxes: Don Pittis
Even the leanest governments need to get revenue somewhere, so they choose the soft targets
By Don Pittis, CBC News Posted: Apr 06, 2016 5:00 AM ET Last Updated: Apr 06, 2016 11:24 AM ET

Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson fell victim to the Panama Papers after demonstrations helped drive him out of office, but tax rules may be harder to change. (Sigtryggur Johannsson/Reuters)

Don Pittis has been a Fuller Brush man, a forest fire fighter and an Arctic ranger before discovering journalism. He was principal business reporter for Radio Television Hong Kong before the handover to China and has produced and reported for CBC and BBC News. He is currently senior producer at CBC's business unit.
(Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external links.)

After the Panama Papers were released I spotted this tweet: "Wife calling .... wants to know why we are the only morons apparently still paying taxes."

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It's not just a joke.

Paying your taxes used to be a moral duty, but primed by growing anti-tax rhetoric, the moral rules have changed. As tax avoidance becomes more respectable and its legal methods more labyrinthine, governments are going after the soft option, ignoring the hard nuts to focus on taxing the average shmo.

Inversion crackdown
The threat yesterday by U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew to crack down on tax inversions came as a shot across the bow of a deal by drug giant Pfizer. It wants to merge with another company as a scheme to slash its tax bill by pretending it is actually Irish for tax purposes.

Pfizer, makers of Advil, wanted to wear a touch of the green and benefit from Ireland's low tax rate by merging with Allergan. (Reuters)

Irish business taxes are 12.5 per cent. In the U.S. they are 35 per cent.

A day later, the Pfizer-Allergan deal is dead because the Treasury Department's new rules would make trying to exploit that tax loophole not worth the effort. And that's a good thing, the White House says.

Stuck with the tab
"It sticks the rest of us with the tab," said President Barack Obama at a news conference calling on Congress to push through the tax inversion changes.

Despite presidential attention over inversions, plus this week's ruckus over the Panama Papers — which have already claimed at least one high-profile victim — the world's governments have been paralyzed in their attempts to capture escaping tax revenue.

U.S. President Barack Obama scowls during a briefing in which he called on Congress to pass new rules blocking tax avoidance, but critics hold out little hope for legislative change. (Reuters)

"While lawmakers have introduced anti-inversion bills, none have been passed," said one U.S. news report in a line buried at the bottom of a story trumpeting the crackdown, "and the chance that Congress will embark on business tax reform this year is very slim."

The fact is, governments are in an unequal battle. In an earlier era, even the biggest corporate giants were under the power of the one or sometimes two countries where they did most of their business.

Huge and unattached
In the years since, corporations have become huger and less nationally attached. They manufacture or buy parts in many places around the world while being able to run much of their day-to-day operations — telemarketing, billing, IT, administration — anywhere there are computers. National residency becomes a mere formality.

Meanwhile, governments have been intentionally weakening themselves, whether under the starve-the-beast principle or simply to try to get their budgets under control in an era of shrinking revenue.

While business growth stagnates, finding legal ways to pay lower taxes has been a bumper source of revenue for corporations and rich people. Money in offshore tax havens is estimated in the trillions of dollars.

The staggering power of that kind of money to buy accounting expertise, to lobby governments at home and abroad, to get the best legal help or even to hire the best crooked help, may be literally overwhelming. Governments find themselves unable to pass laws fast enough to close the freshly devised loopholes.

Revenue agency cuts
Tax authorities earning government-level wages are up against the world's priciest talent. In Canada the revenue agency actually faced staff cuts.



It used to be considered slightly shady to skip out on your taxes. Of course, in the world of tax consultants there has always been a view that getting your taxes down using any legal means possible was not only acceptable but ideal. That view is now becoming almost universal.

Some very rich Canadians give up their residency and move to lower-tax places such as Bermuda for six months a year, only returning for visits and business. (Reuters)

If you're really rich your tax experts will tell you you're crazy to be a resident of Canada at all. Just live in a nice warm tax shelter six months of the year and fly to Canada when you need to visit the grandkids or do business.

'Folds like a cheap suit'
"If you have enough money to move your funds overseas, you have enough money to retain lawyers and accountants and, rather than fight, because of a lack of resources the revenue agency folds like a cheap suit," said PEI Senator Percy Downe in a CBC interview.

Governments need revenue to go on operating. If corporate tax goes abroad and rich people's taxes go abroad, who is left paying the taxes?

Well, you and me, of course.

Coming down hard on middle-class Canadians is cheap and easy. Income taxes on salaries and pension income, consumption-based sales taxes, property taxes and fees for government services are all hard to escape.

This is one more reason to set aside all the scare talk of frightening away the rich people with high tax rates. More effort should be put into closing the loopholes to make sure they pay their share.

Meantime, governments need to figure out ways of raising wages to make more Canadians middle class. At this rate, soon we'll be the only ones left paying taxes.

Follow Don on Twitter @don_pittis

 

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Президент Панамы пообещал расследовать деятельность офшоров

Хуан Карлос Варела

Панама создаст независимую комиссию для изучения финансовой политики страны после публикации информации об офшорах. Об этом, как сообщаетReuters, заявил президент Панамы Хуан Карлос Варела.

«Панамское правительство через наше министерство иностранных дел создаст независимую комиссию из отечественных и международных экспертов, которая оценит нашу текущую практику и предложит меры, которыми мы поделимся с другими странами в целях укрепления прозрачности финансовой и правовой системы», — сказал Варела.

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Как отметил глава государства, власти намерены доказать, что проблема офшоров является общей для многих стран, чьи «финансовые и юридические структуры до сих пор остаются уязвимыми к тому, чтобы их использовали в целях, которые не связаны с общим благом граждан». Он также заверил, что Панама продолжит сотрудничество в судебной сфере и области обмена информации в рамках расследования деятельности офшоров, передает ТАСС.

В воскресенье, 3 апреля, Международный консорциум журналистских расследований (ICIJ) совместно с Организацией по информированию об организованной преступности и коррупции (OCCRP) опубликовал материалы, утверждающие причастность глав государств и известных людей к офшорам в Панаме.

В международном расследовании фигурируют 12 семей российских чиновников и 12 мировых лидеров — все они называются владельцами панамских офшоров. В скандалах с офшорами оказались замешаны президент Украины Петр Порошенко, президент Азербайджана Ильхам Алиев и премьер-министр Исландии Сигмюндюр Девид Гюннлейгссон.

Часть расследования посвящена «близкому окружению» российского президента Владимира Путина. В опубликованых материалах утверждается, что члены окружения Путина перевели через офшорные компании в Панаме, на Виргинских островах и Кипре по меньшей мере два миллиарда долларов. Имя самого Путина при этом в документах не фигурирует.

В своем расследовании авторы использовали «беспрецедентную утечку миллионов документов» из базы данных Mossack Fonseca, четвертой по величине в мире офшорной юридической фирмы.