Panama Papers

DiggerUK

There have been a few of the usual suspects put forward as baddies who are up to no good. But it seems all they were doing was looking for a 'legal' way to do it.
And it doesn't matter if they were sanction busting, or getting round inconvenient laws in 'democracies'.

As this story unfolds I am getting keener to know what hasn't yet been revealed. I accept that the hacks want their pound of flesh first, but if the files were filched by being downloaded, then they can be uploaded for the world to examine..._

http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2016/04/08/iran-hezbollah-implicated-panama-papers-scandal/

http://www.irishtimes.com/business/panama-papers-links-revealed-to-spies-and-iran-contra-affair-1.2599083

antrobus

vivatifosi wrote: »

....It's pretty depressing tbh.

It can be hard to put any 'developing nation' on the path to wealth and prosperity. But it's a lot harder if you're a small island; there's nowhere to even put the steel plant, or the car factory, or the assembly line for the latest Apple ithingmy.

DiggerUK

So, Cameron's poor mum is out of work. Beats me how she could afford to work for free as a volunteer.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3486874/Sorry-Mum-fired-David-Cameron-s-mother-s-job-cut-Tory-austerity-forces-council-close-children-s-centre-works.html

But then again sonny boy only inherited £300,000 out of daddies £2,700,000 estate, so maybe she got the balance.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2012/apr/20/cameron-family-tax-havens

I wonder if inheritance tax was paid.....somebody remind me, what is his position on wealth inherited overseas. Hmmmm, let me guess..._
http://www.theguardian.com/news/commentisfree/2016/apr/07/inheritance-tax-cameron-offshore-trusts-eu

vivatifosi

Banks have to declare to the FCA whether they had any dealings with Mossack Fonseca by the end of next week:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/04/09/panama-papers-scratch-the-surface-of-global-shell-game/

The Financial Conduct Authority has told UK banks to declare any links to Mossack Fonseca by the end of next week, so the watchdog can investigate any potential wrongdoing. HSBC, UBS, Rothschild, Coutts and Credit Suisse are among the institutions named in the leaked documents.

There will be others.

Generali

vivatifosi wrote: »

Banks have to declare to the FCA whether they had any dealings with Mossack Fonseca by the end of next week:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2016/04/09/panama-papers-scratch-the-surface-of-global-shell-game/

The Financial Conduct Authority has told UK banks to declare any links to Mossack Fonseca by the end of next week, so the watchdog can investigate any potential wrongdoing. HSBC, UBS, Rothschild, Coutts and Credit Suisse are among the institutions named in the leaked documents.

There will be others.

Interesting that they specifically have to declare dealings with the firm in the news rather than whether they have helped clients set up structures offshore to facilitate illegal dealings.

The first hedge fund I worked for, which was 100% legitimate, had a structure which could have been abused and was set up using a different legal firm and so would not be caught by this trawling exercise as a deliberate matter of FCA policy.

DiggerUK

vivatifosi wrote: »

Banks have to declare to the FCA whether they had any dealings with Mossack Fonseca by the end of next week?..............

This is the FCA putting on a hard show for self importance.
What are they going to find? a lot of perfectly legal goings on, that's what. Why not investigate who has dealings with the other thousand? ten thousand? such companies around the world.

The scandal is not about law breaking, but about a section of society who regard themselves as a separate class of person who have no intention of being 'in it together'
Austerity is not for some people it seems..._

vivatifosi

Generali wrote: »

Interesting that they specifically have to declare dealings with the firm in the news rather than whether they have helped clients set up structures offshore to facilitate illegal dealings.

The first hedge fund I worked for, which was 100% legitimate, had a structure which could have been abused and was set up using a different legal firm and so would not be caught by this trawling exercise as a deliberate matter of FCA policy.

I'm guessing that there will be different "shades of"... so you will have totally legitimate, like the hedge fund. You could also have a bank set up a company for someone who dodges tax, will the banks necessarily know about that? Plus you could also have a rogue employee of a bank I guess. I doubt that HSBC (for example) would knowingly have a policy of sanctions busting. So by asking them to reveal, they will see what is legal.

Generali

vivatifosi wrote: »

I'm guessing that there will be different "shades of"... so you will have totally legitimate, like the hedge fund. You could also have a bank set up a company for someone who dodges tax, will the banks necessarily know about that? Plus you could also have a rogue employee of a bank I guess. I doubt that HSBC (for example) would knowingly have a policy of sanctions busting. So by asking them to reveal, they will see what is legal.

BNP Paribas as a matter of policy broke US sanctions against Iran and Sudan and was fined in excess of $5bn. Deutsche Bank's staff handbook contained information about how to break sanctions.

vivatifosi

Generali wrote: »

BNP Paribas as a matter of policy broke US sanctions against Iran and Sudan and was fined in excess of $5bn. Deutsche Bank's staff handbook contained information about how to break sanctions.

Under those circumstances they deserve to have the book thrown at them, and swingeing fines, and criminal action against the perpetrators.

Generali

vivatifosi wrote: »

Under those circumstances they deserve to have the book thrown at them, and swingeing fines, and criminal action against the perpetrators.

BNP used shareholders' money to buy off the prosecutors as usual. Nobody was even fired let alone prosecuted. They are no longer investable for our fund as a result.