cool. that settles it. can i now reassert my allegiance to westminster and forget all these silly notions of independence and accountability?
It's not a small outfit. It's a big outfit - apparently the 4th biggest in the world of its kind. It has offices in 27 countries. This is not a couple of solicitors on a Panamanian high street over a chip shop. The whistleblower may therefore be harder to track down. Then you have to wonder who he is. With no proof whatsoever, I would suspect that he is a professional spy. After all, since the financial crisis, all governments have been on the look out to recover tax dollars. And it is known that you can attack drug dealers by catching their cash. So if you had access to the riches of these files, you'd be able to do untold damage to the nefarious. It would be well worth installing a mole in such a firm. It might then be a good idea to leak the documents to the press to cover your tracks. Just a theory, sure. But I bet the whistleblower has vanished into thin air and won't be found any time soon.
There is a difference between knowing something and being in possession of the smoking gun of documentary evidence. Without evidence, papers have to be very careful of libel. You can't just print anything, and that is probably even more the case when you might have the prime minister's henchmen knocking on your door.
Don't agree. They were quite virulent on Today on R4 this morning. Not sure who they were talking to, but he was defending the British Virgin Islands, the poor dears, and telling us that they entire economy would melt down if they couldn't facilitate finance for criminals. They did get him, or someone else, to admit that the only purpose of these places is to avoid tax, either legally or illegally. They could have gone on to say that they also serve for money-laundering on an industrial scale. I suspect we may get to this. It's early days.
Just think how much prouder Scots would be if they had their own independent head of state salting away millions in Panama, just like other countries do.
What I suspect is that the Virgin Islands, Bermuda, and Cayman Islands would not be economically viable as territories without their finance industries, and the finance industries would disappear without the tax avoidance and laundry facilities. In that event, since they are still British territories, who would eventually have to pick up the bills? Who else, the British taxpayer, of course.
well. you and i both know when that happens there will be no shortage of "journalists" happy to report it.
The Panamanian Papers tell us nothing much that we didn't know already, or at least strongly suspect. But they are very useful for a few reasons: 1. They turn the public spotlight on the whole tax evasion thing. 2. People are now going to ask questions. 3. They are documentary proof of what is going on, not just hearsay. 4. They might even lead to tracking some missing billions down. 5. The impunity of the powerful is broken - some of them are going to come out of the woodwork. No one knows the size of the black economy, but it is humungously vast. A bit of Googling seems to indicate 36% of the legal economy in developing countries and 13% in developed ones. But who knows. This is all facilitated by offshore tax havens and dodgy legal firms. Close tax havens and suddenly a lot of problems will disappear. Did I hear yesterday that the BBC quoted a figure of 11'000 properties in London are owned by companies registered in the British Virgin Islands? Does anyone else find this disgusting? London and especially the City of London is awash with illegal cash. And this cash drives up prices for everyone not involved in it. Britain could close the tax havens (and stop colluding itself). If people make enough noise now, maybe it will. We all understand that the Establishment has little appetite for this as it is up to its neck in hidden cash. You will also have noticed that you could easily stop rust hulks sailing the seas by refusing to allow Panamanian or Liberian ships to dock in your port, but once again the rich and powerful who benefit have no appetite for this.
Funny, isn't it, how some Caribbean islands have a flourishing tourist industry (warm seas, sandy beaches, diving, proximity to the US, great climate) and others are only capable in dealing in dodgy money. Of course, it's probably easier producing bits of paper rather than building hotels and doing anything useful.
11000 properties in london which is feck all and all of a sudden its disgusting? this is not a new revelation
11,000 * 2,000,000 = what ? Which may be feck all by comparison, but it isn't feck all You don't get much for £2million in Londinium I am led to believe, but as I haven't been there for donkey's years I could be wrong.
You don't get much for any sum of money care to mention in London. In fact, you could have all the money you need to buy the whole thing and still end up with less than nothing. Just my opinion. Maybe level it and start again? That'd be worthwhile
