Dec 042008
Tax evasion, tax avoidance, money laundering: institutionalised crime is so much part of the global economy.
Then there is moral crime…
Clive Dilnot discusses the collapse of morality in business in the New Statesman using my work on Northern Rock as a starting point.
6 Responses to “The triumph of greed”
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Richard
WHile I agree with you on the appauling case of Northern Rock, and I’m sorry for crowing the same thing over and over but when an article states something like this as fact, it really makes you question if it is all just fiction.
Caribbean tax havens run on tax evasion and money-laundering, as do their British counterparts, something their governments no longer bother to deny. (Barack Obama had a telling line in one of his campaign speeches: “By the way, did you know that there’s a building in the Cayman Islands that supposedly houses 18,000 corporations? That’s either the biggest building or the biggest tax scam on record. And I think we know which one it is.”)
It really just shows the journalist has done a half baked job, and it just stinks of one sided arguments.
For a start Caribbean “tax havens” are not run on tax evasion and money laundering of which their gov no loner deny. They have always denied this as it is blatently untrue. Good to see the journalist mentioned any sources on this.
As for Obamas speech although it is a quote, it is a political poke as mentioned earlier Delaware, the state of his own vice president has 600,000 corporations listed, including one building smaller then Ugland house with over 20,000 corporations which is obviously a bigger tax scam.
Maybe for once some one will write a balanced article on all this.
I think the point of the article has been completely missed by creg, though the title makes it perfectly clear. The promotion of greed and accumulation as human nature in toto, as flawed and destructive. The euphemistically termed tax havens, which serve only the individuals and corporations who have unilaterally decided to excuse themselves from the societies and worlds they share with the source of their wealth, are symptomatic of this crude, reductive propaganda.
Whatever ‘all this’ is, no one is preventing you from presenting a balanced article on it.
Thanks Paul
And Creg, Caribbean officials have told me quite blatantly that in their past they ran on money laundering
It’s just money laundering has got more sophisticated now. We dress it up in front companies, transfer pricing abuses, and the like
But it happens. Drug money does flow round the world
Tax evasion is rampant
Of course this is an onshore and offshore business – as UBS proves – and for all states
It would be a lot harder without tax havens – where like it or not regulation is very, very light touch
Maples & Calder ahve said so for a start – admitting they do not check if their US clients pay US tax. That is negligent and a breach of money laundering rules in my opinion. Clearly not in Cayman
Richard
Drug money does flow round the world
Yes it does, and until people realise this a worldwide problem not just an OFC problem the better it can be fought. If the US and the UK used the same strong tough measures against money laundering as the more reputable OFC’s then things could be a lot better. Let us not forget where the placement of criminal money occurs.
As for M &C admitting that they do not check if their US clients pay US tax, how many UK based banks check? I’m sure very few if any.
Hell even the UK banks do not check if their UK tax payer pays all their tax. They may withhold the minimum, but they do not check if the earner is a higher rate tax payer and pay all the tax on the interest he/she recieves from the bank.
and as for “And Creg, Caribbean officials have told me quite blatantly that in their past they ran on money laundering” I hope you reported them, because otherwise you are breaking the law. In Cayman if we did not report that, as it is well beyond a suspiscion of Money Laundering we probably would be sent to prison.
Creg
The official worked for the money laundering authority
He was telling me what had happened in the past
UK banks fully information exchange with UK tax authorities. That is why they do not need to check
There is no substance at all to your comments
As usual
Richard
Creg
As the NAO report makes clear -http://www.nao.org.uk/publications/nao_reports/07-08/07084.pdf – the chance of going to prison are so small as to be capable of being ignored by anyone and everyone, which is precisely what happens
Richard