The Panama Papers Barely Scratches the Surface of UK Complicity in a Global Scandal

Written on April 9th, 2016 in politics Comments Off

Published on Dissident Voice, by Graham Vanbergen, April 7, 2016.

… Since the Conservative government got their knees under the table, George Osborne has systematically gone about creating what is effectively a territorial tax system for companies and organisations thus ensuring that no UK-based multinational pays taxation in the UK on profits arising to it from outside the country. Of course, the organisation itself has to deliberately go about structuring itself to achieve that goal, but once done, they are shielded from the deliberately lethargic tax office (HMRC) … //

… As we have reported on a number of occasions, Her Majesty’s British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies make up around 25 per cent of the world’s tax havens, which are now blacklisted by the European Commission and ranked as the most important player of financial secrecy in the world. The revelations contained in the Panama Papers is a drop in a much larger cess pool of crime and the likes of Britain’s Prime Minister and his right hand man at the Exchequer swim in it … //

… It was only a year ago that HSBC’s Swiss banking arm was caught in another leak helping wealthy customers evade taxes and conceal hundreds of millions of dollars of assets, whilst dishing out bricks of untraceable cash and advising these clients on how to circumvent domestic tax authorities. At the time it was the biggest banking leak in history containing the details of 30,000 accounts holding nearly £80 billion, an average per account of £2.6 million. Britain’s tax office HMRC was warned in 2010 of the scale of the problem, then it was given this leak a few years later and after months of investigating, it managed to make just one prosecution in what is seen by the criminal and tax evading fraternity as little more than a theatrical joke of some sort.

Britain’s complicity highlighted in the Panama Papers confirms one thing. More than half of the company formations set up by the partners and associates of Mossack Fonseca were registered to the British overseas territory of BVI or British Virgin Isles. Identified in the leak were 110,000 company formations hiding god knows how much in the BVI but if scaled against the HSBC Swiss leak, we are looking at around £300 billion.

Finally, mainstream media coverage of the Panama Papers has been interesting. The Guardian’s exposé focusing on Vladimir Putin was pure comedy, and this from a company that despite its high-mindedness has tax-dodging ingrained from its very birth.

According to one report, in 1936 the paper was placed into a trust by its founder to avoid inheritance tax that was eventually wound up and then converted into a limited company to avoid a £60 million tax bill arising from the sale of Autotrader magazine a few years ago. Who is to know what complexities lies behind this business set-up and what arrangements exist today. Not that other establishment press organisations can brag.

(full text).

(Graham Vanbergen is the contributing editor of TruePublica.Org.UK – an Independent research media organisation whose aims are to publish news, analysis, commentary and research on public affairs and of public interest. Read other articles by Graham).

Panama Papers related Links:

The Panama Papers also on ZNet; on Counterpunch; on Global Research.ca; on The Telegraph; on CNN/money; on The Guardian; on Slate Mag; on The Independent.co.uk; on The Washington Post; on New York Times NYT; on USA TODAY; on again USA TODAY; on YouTube-search; … and let you inspire by Google Images-search;

on en.wikipedia:

  • Panama Papers are a leaked set of 11.5 million confidential documents that provide detailed information about more than 214,000 offshore companies listed by the Panamanian corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca, including the identities of shareholders and directors of the companies. The documents show how wealthy individuals, including public officials, hide their money from public scrutiny …;
  • Tax haven is a state, country, or territory where, on a national level, certain taxes are levied at a very low rate or not at all …;
  • Offshore (disambiguation);

Other Links:

Whatever is bad for David Cameron is good for Brexit [2 VIDEOS], on The Telegraph/Opinion, by Tim Stanley, April 8, 2016: so not only will the government be instructing us how to vote in the EU referendum, bypassing its own rules on civil service purdah, but will be financing the propaganda with taxpayers’ money. The UK is behaving like a banana republic. With EU-mandated, non-curved bananas …;

Brexit would be the worst of all world, – Varoufakis, on The Guardian, April 8, 2016;

Whatever is bad for David Cameron is good for Brexit [2 VIDEOS], on The Telegraph/Opinion, by Tim Stanley, April 8, 2016: so not only will the government be instructing us how to vote in the EU referendum, bypassing its own rules on civil service purdah, but will be financing the propaganda with taxpayers’ money. The UK is behaving like a banana republic. With EU-mandated, non-curved bananas …;

Brexit would be the worst of all world, – Varoufakis, on The Guardian, April 8, 2016;

Syrian Islamist group Jaysh al-Islam admits using banned weapons against Kurds in Aleppo (chemical attack), 2.34 min, on RT, April 7, 2016;

More migrants shipped back to Turkey under EU pact, on Al Jazeera, April 8, 2016;

Talking to the Young in a World that will never truly be postwar, on TomDispatch, by Rory Fanning, April 7, 2016;

Europe and the mass migration – causes, effects and how to cope, on Current Concerns, by Prof Dr Albert A. Stahel, Institute for Strategic Studies, Wädenswil, April 6, 2016;

Switzerland – Spring session 2016: Decisions concerning State and (foreign) economic policy in the two chambers of (Swiss) parliament – A synopsis, on Current Concerns (scroll down to page 10), by Dr iur Marianne Wüthrich, April 6, 2016;

HARDtalk: Yanis Varoufakis, former Greek finance minister, 23.44 min, uploaded by LudVan1 72, April 1, 2016: Stephen Sackur talks to one of the most powerful voices in Europe’s radical left; Yanis Varoufakis. The motor-bike riding former Greek finance minister confronted the powers that be during the darkest days of Greece’s debt crisis and lost. Or did he?

Yanis Varoufakis’ Full Address & Q&A, 74.53 min, uploaded by Oxford Union;

Suisse: Le dimanche des causes perdues, dans Le Matin, par Eric Fellex, le 5 avril 2016;

Cash rich and investment poor? on Business Ghana, Source: IMD Professor Stephane Garelli, April 4, 2016;

Le travail à l’épreuve du salaire à vie, dans AgoraVox.fr, par Caleb Irri, le 4 avril 2016;

Secret offshore accounts help owners evade taxes, 0.42 min, on USA TODAY, by Kevin McCoy, April 4, 2016;

Suisse: Le Parti évangélique suisse PEV dit quatre fois «non» et une fois «oui», dans Evangéliques.info, April 4, 2016;

Greece: Endgame for the IMF-EU Feud over Greece’s Debt, on Spiegel Online International, by , April 3, 2016: Greece hasn’t been saved just yet, and the conflict between the International Monetary Fund and Europe is once again intensifying. Greece’s former minister of finance Yanis Varoufakis expects a showdown between the IMF and Germany;

HARDtalk: FGM Female Genital Mutilation Discussion, 24.12 min, uploaded by LudVan1 72: when US president Barack Obama visited Kenya in 2015 he spoke out against the continued practice of female genital mutilation in countries across Africa and beyond. He said that FGM has ‘no place in the 21st century’. But are there cultural arguments for the practice to continue? Stephen Sackur talks to Fuambai Ahmadu and Nimco Ali;

… and this – Outdoor living:

uploaded by OFF GRID with DOUG and STACY:

uploaded by Wranglerstar:

uploaded by Primal Outdoors:

uploaded by Survival Lilly:

already uploaded on this blog:

… und noch dies:

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