New ranking reveals corporate tax havens behind breakdown of global corporate tax system; toll of UK’s tax war exposed.
Researchers call for new tax rules to “tax corporations where employees work, not where ledgers hide”

Decades of tax wars among the world’s richest countries are unravelling the century-old global corporate tax system, new research finds. Forty per cent of today’s cross-border direct investments reported by the IMF – $18 trillion in value – are being booked in just 10 countries that offer corporate tax rates of 3 per cent or less.

The Corporate Tax Haven Index, published today by the Tax Justice Network, has identified the UK and a handful of OECD countries as the jurisdictions most responsible for the breakdown of the global corporate tax system – with the UK bearing the lion’s share of responsibility through its controlled network of satellite jurisdictions. These countries have aggressively undermined the ability of governments across the world to meaningfully tax multinational corporations. An estimated $500 billion in corporate tax is dodged each year globally by multinational corporations1 – enough to pay the UN’s under-funded humanitarian aid budget 20 times over every year…..Taxjustice.net

Euro Babble

Caught and Led to Astonishing Discoveries.

Shehryar Hasan reports:  After an undercover investigation, Cyprus R. Vance, the district attorney of Manhattan, has indicted money launderers and dark web drug dealers who reportedly sold and shipped drugs to 43 states in the U.S. and laundered $2.3 million using bitcoins.

Chester Anderton, Jarrette Codd and Roland MacCarty were indicted for dealing in Xanax tablets and other controlled substances like fentanyl-laced heroin, methamphetamine, ketamine, alprazolam, steroids, and pill presses on the dark web. They reportedly sold these drugs to 43 states. Apart from that, they also laundered $2.3 million using bitcoins.

The seizure of approximately 420,000 to 620,000 alprazolam tablets, 500 glassines of fenanyl-laced heroin, and other quantities of metamphetamine, ketamine, gamma hydroxybutyric acid, and other substances also marks the biggest seizure of pills in the history of New Jersey. The district attorney stated: Not only is this the first time state prosecutors in New York have taken down a dark web storefront, this take down represents the largest pill seizure in New Jersey’s history….Blockpublisher.com

Criminals use Bitcoin to Launder Dirty Money

PACE urges international action against money-laundering ‘laundromats’

PACE has expressed its deep concern at the extent of money laundering in Council of Europe member States, notably the recent examples known as the “Global Laundromat”, the “Azerbaijani Laundromat” and the “Troika Laundromat”, and has urged improved national mechanisms and international co-operation to combat it.

In a resolution based on a report by Mart van de Ven (Netherlands, ALDE), the Assembly said these “laundromats” involved large sums of money from wealthy businessmen, organised criminals and high officials. They exploited various weaknesses across multiple jurisdictions, including shell companies, often based in the United Kingdom or its Overseas Territories, and poorly regulated banks, notably in the Baltics.

The Global Laundromat involved corrupt Moldovan judges, the parliamentarians said, while the Troika Laundromat involved people close to the heart of state power and the Azerbaijani Laundromat contributed to corruptive activities within the Parliamentary Assembly itself. None has been adequately investigated by national authorities.

The Assembly makes a series of recommendations to member States, to the European Union and to the Committee of Ministers intended to reinforce the international fight against money laundering, organised crime and corruption.

The fight against ML and FT is about how to protect the rule of law, human rights and democracy against dangerous, destructive forces. Forces that have already damaged European democracy.

Pls. see the speech from rapporteur Mart van de Ven (Netherlands, ALDE) presenting his report to the Council of Europe…occrp.org/en/troikalaundromat

Watch the Video Report:

https://vodmanager.coe.int/coe/webcast/coe/2019-04-11-2/en/4

Artist Fernando Lllera
https://www.w-t-w.org/en/fernando-llera/

This week, an international project to disrupt the funding of terrorist activities brought together more than 50 experts in counter terrorism financing (CTF) at Europol’s headquarters in The Hague. The conference’s key objective was to strengthen the international network of CTF investigation units, enhance public-private partnership cooperation and improve big data analysis to fight terrorist financing efficiently.

The conference is part of a two-year project coined BeCaNet (best practice, capacity building and networking initiative among public and private actors against terrorism financing). The BeCaNet initiative brings together public and private players and is directed by the German Federal Criminal Police (Bundeskriminalamt, BKA). Official partners of BeCaNet are the police state security units from France (Sous-Direction Anti-Terroriste, SDAT), the Spanish National Police (Comisaría General de Información, CGI), the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Europol….No money for terror/ europol

Arend van Dam
www.w-t-w.org/en/arend-van-dam

Historically, women have been the ones to shed light on some of the most egregious cases of fraud and waste in government, corporations and other organizations. ‘Women Whistleblowers’ the website and social media campaign features many of these courageous women and has garnered the attention of the online community as a whole. On Facebook alone, over 63,000 people have liked the Women Whistleblowers page, and many others engage with the campaign via Twitter and Instagram. ..Why Women Make Great Whistleblowers

Women Whistleblowers
Whistleblowing Women
Whistleblower-Netzwerk E.V.

Daphne Caruana Galizia and Ana Garrido Ramos winners of 2018 Anti-Corruption Award
Transparency International proudly announces that the late Maltese journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia and Spanish whistleblower and campaigner Ana Garrido Ramos have been selected as winners of the 2018 Anti-Corruption Award. The awards were presented at a ceremony at the 18th International Anti-Corruption Conference (IACC) in Copenhagen this evening.

Daphne Caruana Galizia’s son Matthew and husband Peter collected her award. Matthew Caruana Galizia said: “The bomb that took Daphne away from us extinguished the most powerful voice we ever had in our country’s fight for integrity. It also sought to rob us of the hope that her unwavering voice represented. Nothing will ever compensate for the journalist – let alone the person – we lost in her fight against corruption. But this award reminds us not only that hope remains ours to keep but that a large part of the world is hoping with us. It is an overwhelming and deeply emboldening thought for everyone fighting to win her justice and uphold her legacy. Thank you.”

Through her reporting, Daphne Caruana Galizia exposed corruption scandals involving influential politicians and others in Malta and abroad. Since her murder on October 16th, 2017, Maltese authorities have initiated criminal proceedings against her alleged killers, and an inquiry into whether anyone else should be charged.

Ms Caruana Galizia’s family have asked the government of Malta to establish a public inquiry to investigate whether the Maltese state bears any responsibility for her death, either through its failure to protect her or as a result of any state complicity…..Transparency

Daphne Caruana Galizia. Photo: Transparency International

The power of people’s pressure

Sunday 9 December is International Anti-Corruption Day. Together, we are #UnitedAgainstCorruption

Corruption impacts the poorest and most vulnerable in society the hardest.

It is ordinary citizens who suffer most when the corrupt steal funds intended for public services like infrastructure, healthcare and education, or take back-handers to award lucrative contracts to their cronies.

One in four people around the world say they have had to pay a bribe to access public services in the past twelve months.

But, when ordinary people fight back against corruption, they can make a real difference.
Leveraging people power

Across the world, Transparency International chapters work hard to help the public become involved and engaged in the fight against corruption…..Transparency