Category Archives: Finance

Tax-Avoidance Schemes Are Being Offered Up To The Wealthy Like Vacation Packages

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Giant Leak of Offshore Financial Records Exposes Global Array of Crime and Corruption

Millions of documents show heads of state, criminals and celebrities using secret hideaways in tax havens…ICIJ

Tax-avoidance schemes are being offered up to the wealthy like vacation packages

Rosie Perper, Business Insider reports: Tax-avoidance schemes, that include creating offshore accounts in tax-free countries, are being offered to the wealthy like vacation packages. A screenshot of the TMS Group’s “International Business Company Packages” page shows several plans — called “The Indian Ocean,” “The Caribbean,” and “The Oasis” — being offered to businesses or individuals shopping around for the best place to open up an offshore account.

Two of the packages promote setting up a company in one country, then creating a business address and offshore bank account in two more countries. Seychelles and Belize are offered as possible locations for the company set-up, while Malaysia is the chosen country for business addresses.

Another site, Offshore Desk, offers an €1890 ($2,300 USD) “Seychelles Package,” allowing taxpayers of any country to incorporate a business in Seychelles and a bank account in Cyprus. Similar packages for offshore accounts in Vanuatu and Delaware, are shown on the site accompanied by flashy photos and low-cost promises.

Information obtained from the leaked Panama Papers showed offshore accounts were, in some cases, used to avoid taxes, conceal transactions, and launder money.

panamapapers.icij.org

WEF- Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World

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The global context has changed dramatically: geostrategic fissures have re-emerged on multiple fronts with wide-ranging political, economic and social consequences. Realpolitik is no longer just a relic of the Cold War. Economic prosperity and social cohesion are not one and the same. The global commons cannot protect or heal itself.

Politically, new and divisive narratives are transforming governance. Economically, policies are being formulated to preserve the benefits of global integration while limiting shared obligations such as sustainable development, inclusive growth and managing the Fourth Industrial Revolution. Socially, citizens yearn for responsive leadership; yet, a collective purpose remains elusive despite ever-expanding social networks. All the while, the social contract between states and their citizens continues to erode.

The 48th World Economic Forum Annual Meeting therefore aims to rededicate leaders from all walks of life to developing a shared narrative to improve the state of the world. The programme, initiatives and projects of the meeting are focused on Creating a Shared Future in a Fractured World. By coming together at the start of the year, we can shape the future by joining this unparalleled global effort in co-design, co-creation and collaboration. The programme’s depth and breadth make it a true summit of summits…..WEFSurgical Comb-Over

Silvan Wegmann
www.w-t-w.org/en/silvan-wegmann

The Oligarchs

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Aljazeera’s Investigative Unit unravels a high-stakes international plot hatched by powerful Eastern European oligarchs to make millions of dollars from a crooked deal. According to one Ukrainian analyst: “It sounds like an agreement between criminal bosses. You can sign it with your blood.” The scheme involves using a web of offshore companies and international lawyers to raid US$160 million dollars under the noses of the authorities.

The money is effectively being stolen for a second time… the funds were initially frozen by Ukraine’s courts after its former president, Viktor Yanukovych, was discovered to have emptied the country’s treasury. The Oligarchs include an exiled gas billionaire guarded by Russian special forces, a Moscow property magnate and an Olympic show jumper on the run from Ukrainian authorities. The investigation shines light on the ever shifting battle between the oligarchs and global financial regulators.
Al Jazeera Investigations

By Stuttmann
www.stuttmann-karikaturen.de

Mr. Erdogan Tries To Play Down Its Significance

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Turkish gold trader implicates Erdogan in Iran money laundering. He told jurors in a New York federal court that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan personally authorized a transaction in a scheme to help Iran evade US sanctions….. Department of Justice

Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was not charged in the indictment, but he seemed to loom over the Federal District Court case in Manhattan during the monthlong trial and even before it began. Testimony suggested that he had approved the sanctions-busting scheme….NYtimes/ Turkey-Iran-Sanctions

Turkey’s Erdogan threatens to cut ties with US over jailing of banker and is now threatening the United States with a libel suit.

Iceland Becomes First Country To Legalise Equal Pay

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In Iceland, an example of what happens if you actually elect women. In Iceland, it’s now illegal to pay men more than women. Iceland legalises equal pay between men and women in a world first. A new law making it illegal to pay men more than women has taken effect in Iceland.

The legislation, which came into force on Monday, the first day of 2018, makes Iceland the first country in the world to legalise equal pay between men and women.

Under the new rules, companies and government agencies employing at least 25 people will have to obtain government certification of their equal-pay policies.

Those that fail to prove pay parity will face fines. “The legislation is basically a mechanism that companies and organisations … evaluate every job that’s being done, and then they get a certification after they confirm the process if they are paying men and women equally,” said Dagny Osk Aradottir Pind, a board member of the Icelandic Women’s Rights Association….Iceland Country Legalise Equal Pay
The Global Gender Gap Report 2017

Again Daughter Accused By Money Laundering

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Senior Moldovan Judge’s Daughter Lived In Posh London Flat — With Tainted Money.

Most of the money went to a real estate agency to cover the rent of a luxurious apartment not far from Buckingham Palace in which Mihaela Muruianu lived while studying in London. A smaller portion was deposited directly into her personal bank account.

She is the daughter of Judge Ion Muruianu, the former president of Moldova’s highest court. The money was funneled from Russia through a series of ghost companies registered in the United Kingdom (UK), and its precise origin is not known.

But the payments raise questions about the Muruianu family’s access to significant wealth, given that their total declared income for 2012 stood at 752,000 lei ($62,000) – a little less than the $66,000 estimated cost of the apartment for a single year.

When reached for comment, the judge and his daughter both said they knew nothing about the Russian Laundromat. Mihaela Muruianu further denied any knowledge of the ghost companies from which the transfers originated.

“I do not know the kind of activity these companies are involved in or who their founders are,” Mihaela Muruianu said.

Money from Ghost Companies. The Laundromat scheme was elaborate, involving the fraudulent transfer of massive sums out of Russia and into the European Union with the help of corrupt Moldovan judges…. OCCRP.org

According to Transparency International (TI), an anti-corruption watchdog, Moldova is the most corrupt country in south-eastern Europe, ranking 123rd out of 176 on the group’s Corruption Perceptions Index. In its 2015 report, TI noted that Moldova’s judicial system has been “compromised by the non-meritocratic promotion of judges and by selective justice applied to political competitors.”

New Scottish links to $20bn Russian Money-Laundering scheme as judge’s daughter paid by Edinburgh shell firm

Congo Presidents Daughter Charged with Corruption

Bitcoin Price Fluctuates

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Why bitcoin reminds a former Skype exec of tech giant’s ‘beginnings’

“We’re seeing this tremendous interest from the rest of the world which is, for normal people, beginning to get terribly interesting,” Michael Jackson, Skype’s former chief operating officer, told CNBC. Jackson said that bitcoin’s surge is “great” but added that it was difficult to tell what the future holds for the digital currency.

“I bought a fraction of a bitcoin in October, and my little investment has appreciated about 150% since then. But if I want to cash out, I might have a problem — because apparently it’s not so easy to sell.

I bought my bitcoin through Coinbase, the most popular mainstream exchange for bitcoin and two other cryptcocurrencies, ether and litecoin. That’s where my bitcoin resides. To my mind, it’s the same as buying a mutual fund or ETF at Vanguard or Fidelity, which would then hold the shares and maintain the account.

But the frenzied buying and selling of bitcoin during the last several weeks has caused repeat outages at Coinbase, as the firm’s servers get overloaded. I don’t really want to sell my bitcoin right now, but what if I did?

As a test, I tried to place a sell order for $10 worth of bitcoin. Here’s the message I got:” Sell failed….Bitcoin / Yahoo
Bitcoin price fluctuates wildly / Pressherald

CALL FOR PROPOSALS WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS FINANCE INITIATIVE

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WE-FI is open for Business: Octobre 12. 2017

The Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative (We-Fi) is pleased to announce its first call for proposals. Up to $150m of grant financing is available for this call.

The objective of the We-Fi is to address financial and non-financial constraints faced by women-owned/led small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in IDA and IBRD eligible countries and territories. The We-Fi aims to achieve this by mobilizing more than $1 billion in commercial and international financial institution (IFI) finance for entities that provide women entrepreneurs with access to debt, equity, venture capital, insurance products, capacity building, networks and mentors, and opportunities to link with domestic and global markets; and for governments to improve the business environment for women-owned/led SMEs.
WeFi-CallforProposals-Oct17
Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative Statement
Women Entrepreneurs Finance Initiative- We-Fi

http://www.financialbuzz.com/we-fi-for-business-905256

All over the developing world, women have successfully made it in business. But they are a small group of women — only 30 percent of formal small and medium enterprises (SMEs) around the world are owned and run by women. Seventy percent of formal women-owned SMEs in developing countries are either shut out of financial institutions or can’t get the capital they need.

This results in a nearly $300 billion annual credit deficit for formal women-owned SMEs. It is nearly impossible to sustain a business without access to capital. Lack of networks, knowledge, and links to high value markets further limit female entrepreneurship in developing countries.

We-Fi intends to change those statistics. Its holistic approach will help women in developing countries gain increased access to the finance, markets, and networks necessary to start and grow a business.

Ivanka Trump involved in Russian Money Laundering?

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President Donald Trump made tens of millions of dollars in profits by allowing Colombian drug cartels and other groups to launder money through a Trump-affiliated hotel in Panama, according to a new investigation by the organization Global Witness.

How an alleged fraudster in Panama, working with Donald Trump’s daughter, helped make Trump’s first international hotel venture a success. The broker was in business with a money-launderer and two criminals from the former Soviet Union….
Globalwitness.org/ Corruption and Money Laundering
Reuters.com/Investigates/ Ivanka and the fugitive from Panama
Newsweek.com/
Money Laundering

Future of Financial and Monetary Systems

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The World Economic Forum (Wef) not only reports on: #MeToo, the most dangerous cities for women and other top gender stories of the week it also discussing: Balancing Financial Stability, Innovation, And Economic Growth in…

Shaping the Future of Financial and Monetary Systems:
Wef, in an effort to understand better the implications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution – a technology-led transformation that is fundamentally altering the way people work, live and relate to one another – the World Economic Forum has prioritized a review of the financial system through the launch of a new initiative: Balancing Financial Stability, Innovation, and Economic Growth.

This White Paper provides a summary of findings identified during the ongoing discussions and interviews, which at a very high level can be condensed in the following four points:

· Further major innovation-driven change is coming in financial services.

· Joint, concerted action is needed to enable the system to reap the benefits of innovation.

· Managing some systemic risks introduced by this wave of innovation poses challenges.

· The financial services system would benefit from certain tools to achieve greater enablement and risk management.

This whitepaper was prepared in collaboration with Oliver Wyman. WEF: (FSIEG)

Harm Bengen
www.w-t-w.org/en/harm-bengen
www.harmbengen.de

Wef Media