Topic: The Panama Papers 11.5m files leaked.

[lindylou100]

I would thought if anyone had some dodgy deals it would be Trump.

Given Clintons past record I'd be surprised if she wasn't indirectly implicated or her backers were.

[ericthered10]

weirdly the potential US scandal is what's making me nervous given that we're in an election year, I just have this horrible feeling that a leak will change the course of the election towards a Trump win. It's perhaps the only reason I'm not looking forward to the 1% getting exposed.

Trump is the 1%. He's most likely to be among the names, followed not too far behind by Hillary I would guess.

[TepidT2O]

Trump is the 1%. He's most likely to be among the names, followed not too far behind by Hillary I would guess.

Baseless speculation ...

"I don't like them, so they are most likely on the list..."

[exiledintheUSA]

 I'd expect most of them to be on it.  Imagine if Bernie was 

[TepidT2O]

I'd expect most of them to be on it.  Imagine if Bernie was 

Reading this thread, it seem this sort of Panama deal has been banned in the US since 2010....

[exiledintheUSA]

Reading this thread, it seem this sort of Panama deal has been banned in the US since 2010....

It has essentially, although I'm sure plenty of people will have links to it from other tax dealings - if not named specifically.

[ericthered10]

Baseless speculation ...

"I don't like them, so they are most likely on the list..."

Nah, just did the math for my speculation. Went with the people who have enough money to actually be partaking in such tax havens, and who also have businesses/organizations loosely tied to themselves from which to move funds. We're talking tens of millions if not hundreds of millions in assets with this stuff. I dislike Cruz the most of all, but even with his law firm partner career there's just no way he's financially in this stratosphere. He had to get his wife to secure a $1M loan from Goldman. Kochs maybe, but not him, or Kasich, or Sanders.

[ericthered10]

It has essentially, although I'm sure plenty of people will have links to it from other tax dealings - if not named specifically.

Yep. And am I alone in thinking that dealings prior to 5 years ago are still interesting or relevant?

[ericthered10]

there's nothing wrong with tax evasion. it should be encouraged and celebrated. if i was that rich a Panama trust would be where i would stash my cash

Sure, we can make a publicly funded holiday of it. National Tax Evasion Celebration Day.

[Party Phil]

there's nothing wrong with tax evasion. it should be encouraged and celebrated. if i was that rich a Panama trust would be where i would stash my cash

[Mutton Geoff]

Cameron's dads company was involved too!  (Before he died)..

Helped to pay them Eton Fees

[Mutton Geoff]

there's nothing wrong with tax evasion. it should be encouraged and celebrated. if i was that rich a Panama trust would be where i would stash my cash

go on i will bite i hope the NHS tells you to piss off, your kids don't get educated, but maybe you are just a tax dodging Wum or a Tory on a day off.

[Trada]

Nice that a lot of the newspapers headlines tomorrow are about Cameron's dad.

[The Gulleysucker]

there's nothing wrong with tax evasion. it should be encouraged and celebrated. if i was that rich a Panama trust would be where i would stash my cash

I guess you are fully supportive of Social Security fraud too?

If you've got so much money that you feel the need to avoid taxation in such an offshore way, you've likely got too much money to know what to do with and have probably got it by inheritance or crime, but likely not by hard work.

Anything more than say Ł100M, which should sustain you with a first class lifestyle beyond your wildest dreams, you could always try instead giving the surplus away to a worthy cause, funding things like drilling fresh water wells in Africa for people struggling to survive there, that sort of thing.

It might even make you feel good, instead of otherwise knowing with absolute certainty that most people will think you're a colossal selfish twat.

[Trada]

To think it was only a while back and Cameron's big thing was cracking down on cash in hand jobs.

[Crosby Nick]

To think it was only a while back and Cameron's big thing was cracking down on cash in hand jobs.

Honestly, who pays for a hand job by card. So inconsiderate of him.

[Trada]

[Trada]

Cameron Dad's company paid no UK tax for 30 years.

The man who hated England as the Mail would put it.

[John C]

It might even make you feel good, instead of otherwise knowing with absolute certainty that most people will think you're a colossal selfish twat.

Your response was very polite Gulley mate, unless he is on a wind-up its sickening that a Liverpool supporter could harbour such opinions.

[Party Phil]

Honestly, who pays for a hand job by card. So inconsiderate of him.

Tell me about it, so hard to find anyone that accepts them anymore and if you want to use American Express forget about it. I met one girl who thought she could corner the market by advertising Contactless and she never got another customer.

[Hij]

Honestly, who pays for a hand job by card. So inconsiderate of him.

Tell me about it, so hard to find anyone that accepts them anymore and if you want to use American Express forget about it. I met one girl who thought she could corner the market by advertising Contactless and she never got another customer.

Well that's some light relief. The comedy, not the handjobs.

[The Gulleysucker]

Assuming it's not a wind up, though I fear it's not, it's truly depressing that people can think that way and even be so proud of it as to say it out loud.

I suppose it's a sign that Thatchers children have grown up and now walk amongst us.

No concept of society just self, no sense of altruism just selfishness, no pride in wanting to make things, only to be on the make and at the expense of others.

A Spiv mentality and outlook on life and the rest of society would appear to be something some aspire to.

[shook]

http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2016/04/04/the-panama-papers-the-mysterious-u-s-connection/
The law firm, Mossack Fonseca, worked with 617 intermediaries operating in the U.S., according to the ICIJ. That could include banks, law firms and other middlemen that set up shell companies, foundations and trusts for customers seeking to move money into offshore accounts.

So far, none of the U.S. intermediaries have been named. The only direct U.S. connection involves financial writer and life coach Marianna Olszewski, the author of “Live It, Love It, Earn It: A Woman’s Guide to Financial Freedom.” The BBC reported that Mossack Fonseca employed a 90-year old British man as a stand-in to allow Ms. Olszewski to confidentially access funds she had invested in a secret offshore company.

No U.S. banks are among the 10 biggest banks banks named as the biggest creators of offshore companies for clients.

[lindylou100]

Your response was very polite Gulley mate, unless he is on a wind-up its sickening that a Liverpool supporter could harbour such opinions.

Nah it was just some class A trolling

[Trada]

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/LrsI0Sw2hq8" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/LrsI0Sw2hq8</a>

[Trada]

Panama Papers’ tax fraud scandal: 18 Africans listed
Victor Muisyo with AGENCIES 9 hours ago
Panama

The “Panama Papers’‘ scandal, has not spared Africa. Former Sudanese President, Jacob Zuma’s nephew, Kofi Annan’s son, personal secretary to the King of Morocco, Kenya’s Deputy Chief Justice and 13 other Africans have been mentioned in the global data leaks, the infamous ‘Panama Papers.’

The data leaks which involves some over 11 million documents exposes the financial activities of some of the world’s rich and famous and their use of tax havens. The leaks were by an unknown source at one world’s most secretive companies, Panamanian law firm Mossack Fonseca.

In the case of Sudan’s former President Ahmad Ali al-Mirghani, Kenya’s Deputy Chief Justice Kalpana Rawal and ex-UN chief Kofi Annan’s son Kojo Annan – they reportedly used offshore companies to buy and sell expensive real estate in London.

Kojo Annan, the only son of former U.N. head Kofi Annan is another African mentioned. Kojo courted controversy in 1998, when a firm of his won a big contract under the U.N.’s Oil-for-Food humanitarian program in Iraq.

Kenya’s Deputy Chief Justice Kalpana Rawal is in the list. Kalpana and her husband were directors of two companies based in the British Virgin Islands.

Also among the listed Africans is Karim Wade a former Minister of State for International Cooperation, Planning, Air Transport and Infrastructure in Senegal. He is the son of former Senegalese president Abdoulaye Wade, whose presidency was marred by allegations of corruption, nepotism and constraints on freedom of the press and other civil liberties.

The king of Morocco’s personal secretary, Mounir Majidi, also reportedly used an offshore company to buy a luxury yacht a decade ago, even though his lawyers maintain is above board.

Embattled South African President Jacob Zuma’s nephew, Khulubuse Zuma, is also named as a representative of two offshore companies that acquired oil fields in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2010.

In a reaction kowever, Khulubushe’s spokesperson is quoted as saying, the reports was stating facts that South Africans already knew and that they were in no way inplicating Zuma of any wrongdoing.

“The reports do not allege that Khulubuse holds an offshore bank account, when in actual fact he does not. All the report alleges is that he is associated with a company registered in the British Virgin Islands,” he said.

Jaynet Désirée Kabila Kyungu, MP and twin sister to the President of the DRC, Joseph Kabila. She chairs the Foundation Laurent-Desiré Kabila, named after his father, and owns Digital Congo, a media conglomerate of television, Internet and radio.

Also included in the list is Abdeslam Bouchouareb, an Algerian MP and Minister for Industries and Mines. Others are José Maria Botelho de Vasconcelos, Angola’s Minister for Petroleum, as well as Ivorian banker Jean-Claude N’Da Ametchi who’s a friend of former president Laurent Gbagbo.

No African current Head of State has been quoted, except former Sudanese President al-Amad Ali Mirghani, who died in 2008.

Some of the personalities the report mentions have previously been found guilty of money laundering activities and are serving in jail, a typical case in point being a former governor of Nigeria’s Delta State, James Ibori.

He was convicted of such activities in 2012. Four offshore companies connected to Ibori are named in the Panama Papers – one of which was used to buy a $20m (Ł14m) private jet.

The leaks were passed to German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung, which then shared them with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists. The documents reveal that Mossack Fonseca assisted companies and individuals to utilize tax havens in numerous ways.

http://www.africanews.com/2016/04/04/panama-papers-tax-fraud-scandal-18-africans-listed/

[Trada]

Panama Papers: Obama, Clinton Pushed Trade Deal Amid Warnings It Would Make Money Laundering, Tax Evasion Worse

Years before more than a hundred media outlets around the world released stories Sunday exposing a massive network of global tax evasion detailed in the so-called Panama Papers, U.S. President Barack Obama and then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton pushed for a Bush administration-negotiated free trade agreement that watchdogs warned would only make the situation worse.

Soon after taking office in 2009, Obama and his secretary of state — who is currently the Democratic presidential front-runner — began pushing for the passage of stalled free trade agreements (FTAs) with Panama, Colombia and South Korea that opponents said would make it more difficult to crack down on Panama’s very low income tax rate, banking secrecy laws and history of noncooperation with foreign partners.

Even while Obama championed his commitment to raise taxes on the wealthy, he pursued and eventually signed the Panama agreement in 2011. Upon Congress ratifying the pact, Clinton issued a statement lauding the agreement, saying it and other deals with Colombia and South Korea "will make it easier for American companies to sell their products." She added: "The Obama administration is constantly working to deepen our economic engagement throughout the world, and these agreements are an example of that commitment."

Critics, however, said the pact would make it easier for rich Americans and corporations to set up offshore corporations and bank accounts and avoid paying many taxes altogether.

“A tax haven ... has one of three characteristics: It has no income tax or a very low-rate income tax; it has bank secrecy laws; and it has a history of noncooperation with other countries on exchanging information about tax matters,” Rebecca Wilkins, a senior counsel with Citizens for Tax Justice, a nonpartisan nonprofit that advocates changes in U.S. tax policy, told the Huffington Post in 2011. “Panama has all three of those. ... They’re probably the worst.”

The Panama FTA pushed for by Obama and Clinton, watchdog groups said, effectively barred the United States from cracking down on questionable activities. Instead of requiring concessions of the Panamanian government on banking rules and regulations, combating tax haven abuse in Panama could violate the agreement. Should the U.S. embark on such an endeavor, it could be exposed to fines from international authorities.

“The FTA would undermine existing U.S. policy tools against tax haven activity,” warned consumer watchdog group Public Citizen at the time, saying the agreement would encourage corporations to thwart any U.S. efforts to combat financial secrecy. The group also noted that U.S. government contractors, as well as major financial firms supported by taxpayer bailouts, stood to gain from the trade deal's provisions that could make it harder to crack down on financial secrecy.

Email shows Clinton State Dept pushing Panama pact amid warnings it would help the rich hide money



http://www.ibtimes.com/panama-papers-obama-clinton-pushed-trade-deal-amid-warnings-it-would-make-money-2348076

[Trada]

Seoul, Apr 5: A North Korean front company used to help fund the country's nuclear weapons programme was among the clients of the Panamanian law firm at the centre of a massive data leak, reports said today. With a Pyongyang-based address, DCB Finance Ltd. was registered in the British Virgin Islands (BVI) in 2006, and leaked papers show that the Panama firm, Mossack Fonseca, legally incorporated the company, the Guardian newspaper and BBC reported.

Read more at: http://www.oneindia.com/international/panama-papers-disclose-links-with-n-korea-front-companies-2061023.html

[Bullan]

shal kek nem ron.

Youd be surprised by the arrogance, lack of morals and idiocy of Icelandic conservatives. No way he will resign on his own. There has been protest called for tomorrow and every one thinks he should resign. But the only way he will is if the Independence Party(the party his party is in coalition with pulls suport for him, unlikely as they have a number of people implicated in the leak).
Its basically one massive clusterfuck and the overweight toddler zombie will look to remain as long as possible. 

It's not just the conservatives though , it's the Icelandic population as well.
No doubt the fat fuck will cling to power like an African despot , it is after all what we do so well in Iceland , avoid any kind of responsibility "God Bless Iceland" and all that.

The far more interesting thing is that the money in Tortola is not theirs , the family silver was sold to a man who paid for it using loans from the Icelandic banks using his fishing rights as collateral , rights which by the way the conservatives have more or less given away to their cronies, and the loans were never paid back.

Not to mention the inconvenient fact that the PM (sorry his wife) is a major creditor to the fallen Icelandic banks , the same banks the PM has tried his best to pay back the creditors.

The only play left in this sorry saga is for the finance minister and his Tory party to cut and run with an eye on the next election as they at least can be certain of their 20% +/- voters will keep coming back for the barbed wire buttplugs they seem to enjoy so much, but with the Pirates looking likely to win in a landslide I cannot see any of the Conservatives slithering off into whatever dark hole they came out of.

[Trada]

Someone tweeted the original journalist who got the leaked documents saying why  a lot of people seemed to be protected.

His reply wait to see whats coming.

[_00_deathscar]

They used too many images in the Powerpoint presentation?

[Trada]

Shown on ABCTV.

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/VcT325oCgBs" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/VcT325oCgBs</a>

[SP]

On a smaller scale look at the parliamentary expenses scandal. There was a drip-drip of stories for months after an initial splash. There are too many people working on this in too many different countries to suppress this. And it is a huge cache - there will be months of revelations.

[Yorkykopite]

On a smaller scale look at the parliamentary expenses scandal. There was a drip-drip of stories for months after an initial splash. There are too many people working on this in too many different countries to suppress this. And it is a huge cache - there will be months of revelations.

Although the Chinese Communist Party with its usual frenzy of censoring news will be quite successful in preventing any revelations in China.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-china-35957235

[Trada]

Jeremy Corbyn: Direct Rule on these British Crown dependent territories could be imposed very quickly.. was done during financial crisis. And we need those taxes paid.

Also said he would be happy to publish his tax returns and urges all ministers to do same

[SP]

Jeremy Corbyn: Direct Rule on these British Crown dependent territories could be imposed very quickly.. was done during financial crisis. And we need those taxes paid.

Also said he would be happy to publish his tax returns and urges all ministers to do same

Colonial Corbyn? Is that not at odds with his general position on everything?

[Euskadi]

Very sad to think how all this might impact the local population and economy, these lot will just move their money elsewhere to another tax haven whilst the local population of Panama will pay the price of this ticking time bomb.

[RedSince86]

American's are above this sort of thing 

Americans put their's in the Cayman's and Bahamas.

[kennedy81]

The most depressing thing about all this is that it will change absolutely nothing, and will be largely met by total apathy by most people. The most surprising thing will be that anyone is actually surprised.
People like Clinton and Cameron will continue to get elected, corporations and bankers will continue to take the piss, and the super rich will just sit back and laugh at it all.

[Trada]

France's National Front leader Marine Le Pen has been implicated in the Panama Papers, and had a "sophisticated offshore system" to hide money.

Aides to French far-right leader Marine Le Pen put in place a “sophisticated offshore system” to hide money, Le Monde newspaper reported on Tuesday in the latest disclosure from the Panama Papers.

The aim of the system, which sent funds to Hong Kong, Singapore, the British Virgin Islands and Panama, was “to get money out of France, through shell companies and false invoices, to evade French anti-money-laundering authorities,” the paper reported.

One of the key figures in the system set up by the National Front (FN) is Frederic Chatillon, head of a company called Riwal which carried out communications work for some of the party’s candidates, the report said.

“In 2012, just after the presidential election, Frederic Chatillon ... made arrangements to withdraw 316 000 euros from Riwal and to move it out of France,” Le Monde said.

The money then took a complex route, involving the acquisition of a Hong Kong-based shell company called Time Dragon, whose parent company is in the British Virgin Islands and overseen by Mossack Fonseca, the Panamanian law firm at the centre of the Panama Papers.

http://mg.co.za/article/2016-04-05-panamaleaks-french-far-right-leader-hid-money#.VwOTzYRyV74.twitter