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	Tax havens do not need to reform, they need to end by Transparency International, Tax Justice Network   April 2016   Transparency International calls for immediate action by world leaders to stop secret companies.   A global investigation into the use of secret companies by the rich, powerful and corrupt has shown how a network of lawyers, bankers and others around the world hide illicit wealth. Transparency International calls on the international community to act immediately to adopt transparency laws to outlaw secret companies.   The Panama Papers, a massive leak of financial documents, reveal the offshore holdings of 140 politicians and public officials, including 12 current and former world leaders, who used more than 214,000 offshore entities to hide the ownership of assets.   “The Panama Papers investigation unmasks the dark side of the global financial system where banks, lawyers and financial professionals enable secret companies to hide illicit corrupt money. This must stop. World leaders must come together and ban the secret companies that fuel grand corruption and allow the corrupt to benefit from ill-gotten wealth,” said José Ugaz, the chair of Transparency International.   Transparency International is calling for a renewed push for G20 countries to agree that public beneficial ownership registers should be the global standard, and sanctions applied to jurisdictions that do not conform to this standard. This would include not just the G20, but also the numerous countries big and small where the creation of secret companies is big business.   “How many more massive document leaks do world leaders need to see to understand that the lack of public registers of beneficial owners of companies is what keeps global grand corruption schemes alive and well?” Ugaz said.   Transparency International wants public registers of all companies beneficial owners to make it harder for the corrupt to hide their illicit wealth in secret companies and trusts that use nominees to register ownership. The G20 have supported measures to increase beneficial ownership transparency, but have done little to implement them.   “As more information is revealed about how a network of financial middlemen, lawyers, accountants and big banks facilitate both the movement of illicit wealth and the way to disguise who actually owns it, it is clear what has to be done. Enablers who help companies set up secret companies must be sanctioned and jurisdictions that welcome secrecy, must be outlawed,” said Elena Panfilova, vice-chair of Transparency International.   Transparency International has named the U.S. state of Delaware, home to thousands of anonymous shell companies thanks to its strict corporate secrecy rules, as part of its Unmask the Corrupt campaign (Unmaskthecorrupt.org) specifically because its corporate registration rules help people hide the true owners of companies.   http://panamapapers.icij.org/ http://blog.transparency.org/2016/03/31/giving-people-a-voice-lessons-from-measuring-corruption/ http://www.actionaid.org/news/tax-treaties-stopping-poor-countries-collecting-fair-share-tax-multinationals http://blog.transparency.org/2016/03/24/why-open-data-can-stop-corruption/   Tax havens don’t need to be reformed. They should be outlawed, writes Richard Brooks for The Guardian.   The Panama Papers are not really about a central American state. They are a glimpse through a Panamanian keyhole of an orgy of tax evasion, money laundering and kleptocracy – amid the legitimate financial planning – hosted by the world’s tax havens. Seven years after world leaders came together at a post-financial crisis G20 summit in London and committed to end tax haven abuse, it is clear from these papers that no such end is in sight.   The good intentions have translated into a blizzard of international agreements on sharing information, amnesties through which tax evaders can come clean, and prosecution drives of variable quality to nail the cheats. All are demonstrably inadequate. Information will not, and cannot, be exchanged to any meaningful extent by countries and territories whose “offer” is that they don’t ask for it or will turn a blind eye to being deceived.   Amnesties teach rich tax evaders that, even if they are caught, they will get off far more lightly than somebody overclaiming a few pounds in social security benefits. Criminal pursuit of offenders, certainly in the UK, is little more than a joke. One prosecution from 1,000 tax evaders using HSBC’s Swiss accounts is the now infamously poor punchline.   Here, the Panama Papers lay bare another national disgrace: Britain’s longstanding role at the centre of the offshore web. More than half of the 200,000 secret companies set up by the Panama lawyers Mossack Fonseca were registered in the British Virgin Islands, where details of company ownership don’t have to be filed with the authorities, never mind be made public.   While this week’s leak is on an unprecedented scale, it exposes a historic as well as current failing. As the British empire faded away after the second world war and territories such as the British Virgin Islands drifted into the constitutional limbo of semi-independence, they were encouraged to develop financial services as a way of sustaining precarious economies. If this meant a few of the world’s wealthier people paid a little less tax, thought successive British governments, it was a price worth paying for not having to support the territories.   Late 20th-century financial liberalisation turned this already complacent calculation into something more lethal. With fortunes sloshing freely across borders, tax havens became voracious parasites on the world economy, most seriously sucking the life out of some of its poorer parts. All the great national robbers of recent decades, such as Nigeria’s Sani Abacha, have used tax haven companies, including British Virgin Islands ones, as the getaway cars.   Despite this long trail of evidence, leading economies refuse to address the problem at its source. The UK has great leverage over its 17 overseas territories and crown dependencies, all of which depend on the mother country for security and happily trade off its legal system. At a stroke our government could shut down the British Virgin Islands corporate system, for example.   But under influence from a banking system that thrives on the legal benefits of offshore centres such as the British Virgin Islands and the Cayman Islands, it takes a more relaxed view. Asked recently about whether Britain’s overseas territories should publish registers of beneficial owners of their companies, foreign office minister James Duddridge replied that these were a “direction, rather than an ultimate destination”. The Panama Papers should expose this indifference for the great scandal that it is.   Without leaks like this week’s, nothing would be publicly known about the tax haven companies now exposed. And next to nothing would be known by the authorities in the countries affected. Yet, alongside dozens of other tax havens, the British Virgin Islands can claim to be on the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development’s “white list” of approved jurisdictions, having met conditions imposed for exchanging information.   That’s right: a major centre of international financial crime, home to the shell companies and any number of other money launderers and sanctions-busters, is endorsed by the rich nations’ club.   With around $1tn a year still flowing out of developing countries to tax havens, it is clear that coaxing these territories into increased transparency can achieve only marginal gains. The recent series of leaks poses a more potent threat: anybody contemplating hiding income offshore must now factor in the risk that many years later the details could make their way from an office such as Mossack Fonseca’s into the wider world. Far better, even the greediest might think, simply to pay the tax and get on with life.   But for others, especially those looting serious money, the offshore attractions will remain. There will be further added layers of secrecy: phoney foundations and fake beneficial owners with no names mentioned even in internal emails. A small proportion of scams will be exposed in the press and documentaries featuring telegenic palm trees and yachts will continue to hit our TV screens. But the tax havens will keep their place in the world.   To tackle the cancer of corruption at the heart of the global financial system, tax havens need not just to reform but to end. Companies, trusts and other structures constituted in this shadow world must be refused access to the real one, so they can no longer steal money and wash it back in. No bank accounts, no property ownership, no access to legal systems. The anti-corruption summit being hosted by David Cameron in May is an opportunity to start the international team effort that this would require. The world has been entertained by tax havens long enough.   * Richard Brooks is a former tax inspector who was consulted by Panorama and the Guardian over the Panama papers.   http://www.theguardian.com/news/commentisfree/2016/apr/04/tax-havens-reformed-outlawed-panama-papers http://www.bbc.com/news/world-35934836   The enablers of financial secrecy know what they are doing. (Tax Justice Network)   Law firms like Mossack Fonseca know exactly what they are doing when they set up secret offshore companies. Lawyers operate in a privileged environment. Although they have a duty of confidentiality to their clients, that duty does not override their obligation to uphold the law. This means performing adequate due diligence on their clients and informing the relevant authorities when they come across suspicious activity.   However, far too many offshore lawyers, accountants and bankers see it as their role to shield their clients from financial regulations designed to prevent money laundering, tax evasion and corruption.   The Tax Justice Network has for many years highlighted the role Panama has played in the global offshore industry. Our Financial Secrecy Index, the benchmark for assessing the secrecy of financial centres, assigns Panama with one of the highest secrecy scores in the world.   The kind of financial secrecy practised by Panama is designed specifically to avoid global regulations requiring the disclosure of assets. In many cases this secrecy is established for the sole purpose of hiding criminal or corrupt transactions.   For years we have called on governments around the world to implement the policies required to stamp out tax evasion, corruption and criminality, yet we have seen little progress.   We note that today’s latest leak from the ICIJ highlights yet again how financial secrecy permeates the global political and business elite; many of whom are responsible for designing the rules on the global economy.   What is needed now is a commitment to end financial secrecy, tax havens and the offshore financial system. We are unaware of any legitimate reason as to why individuals need to incorporate companies in secrecy jurisdictions. It is now time for that practice to end.   Commenting specifically on the latest allegations, John Christensen, Director of the Tax Justice Network said:   “Mossack Fonseca has been one of the giants of the offshore world for decades. They had a reputation for extreme secrecy and discretion on their clients’ behalf, which needless to say was attractive to many clients engaged in tax evasion, fraud, hiding conflicts of interest, and other white collar crimes.   It is important to recognise that offshore law firms like Mossack Fonseca do not operate in isolation; they rely on intermediaries, often other law firms or banks, to pass on clients and to provide support for the sophisticated cross-border structures needed by politically exposed clients or other members of the global financial elite who want to hide their corrupt and criminal activities”   Alex Cobham, Director of Research for the TJN said: “The Tax Justice Network’s Financial Secrecy Index has for a long time listed Panama as one of the most secretive jurisdictions in the world. In the most recent index we identified Panama as a jurisdiction of ‘extreme concern’. But the international community, despite talking a good game, has done little to compel improvements either from Panama or the many other jurisdictions working to promote secrecy, including the British tax haven network.   This global inaction has allowed places like Panama to cause huge damage to the global economy, facilitating tax avoidance and evasion that not only eliminates government revenues to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars a year, but also the corruption that undermines democratic government and elite accountability.”   Nicholas Shaxson, author of Treasure Islands, a book about tax havens, said:   “While the focus is currently on Panama, one of the world’s sleaziest tax havens, it is important not to forget that it is just part of a bigger global system. The United States is a big player in the game, hosting vast sums in foreign-owned assets in conditions of strong secrecy. The United Kingdom runs a global network of Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies that includes some of the world’s biggest tax havens — including Cayman, the British Virgin Islands, Bermuda and Jersey.   In a little over two months’ time UK Prime Minister David Cameron will hold a global anti-corruption summit in London. If the UK government is serious about taking on corruption and money laundering, then it needs to take action on the British territories, many of which are used by companies such as Mossack Fonseca to hide their clients’ wealth.”   http://www.taxjustice.net/2016/04/04/15473/ http://www.taxjustice.net/2016/04/04/links-apr-4/ http://www.taxjustice.net/   The Panama Papers Expose the Hidden Wealth of the World’s Super-Rich, by Chuck Collins.   As global wealth concentrates in fewer hands, the world’s wealthy are shifting trillions to offshore havens to escape taxation, accountability, and publicity.   The just-released Panama Papers—filled with titillating details involving the shady dealings of world leaders and violent traffickers of drugs and slaves—should give a strong boost to US and global campaigns to crack down on these global secrecy jurisdictions and practices.   Starting with an anonymous leak to the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared with a consortium of journalists, the Panama Papers initially identify 140 politicians and public officials using off-shore schemes.   Leaders named with offshore wealth include current and former members of China’s politburo, three members of the UK House of Lords, the president of Ukraine, and the prime ministers of Iceland and Pakistan. Others include movie star Jackie Chan, Argentinian soccer star Lionel Messi, and 29 billionaires from the Forbes global wealth list.   Initial media coverage in US major dailies is scant, perhaps due to the conspicuous absence of US citizens named in what The Guardian calls the “first tranche” of disclosures. But as more findings are revealed over the coming months, it’s hard to imagine that prominent American names won’t be on the lists.   Russian president Vladimir Putin’s close associates are heavily implicated. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quick to counter-attack, arguing that the motive behind the leak was political, not journalistic. “Putin, Russia, our country, our stability and the upcoming elections are the main target, specifically to destabilize the situation.” Peskov charged that former CIA and US State Department had even helped analyze the documents.   The papers implicate Iceland’s Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson as secretly owning millions in bank bonds during the 2008 collapse of Iceland’s banking system. He is facing calls for his resignation.   The unprecedented year-long journalistic effort involved more than 370 reporters from 100 media organizations, coordinated by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). The primary sources were leaks from Mossack Fonseca, Panamanian law firm with more than 35 offices around the world. Journalists sifted through transactions involving 214,488 off-shore corporations covering 40 years of activity.   Gabriel Zucman, author of The Hidden Wealth of Nations: The Scourge of Tax Havens and assistant professor at UC Berkeley, estimates that $7.6 trillion in individual assets are in tax havens, about 8 percent of the world’s financial wealth. He believes the use of tax havens has grown 25 percent from 2009 to 2015. Zucman estimates that US citizens have at least $1.2 trillion stashed offshore, costing $200 billion a year worldwide in lost tax revenue from wealthy individuals. US multinational corporations underpay their taxes worldwide by $130 billion by engaging in corporate tax avoidance.   The Panama Papers reveal the widespread use of shell corporations in the British Virgin Islands, the Seychelles in the Indian Ocean, and Panama. Historically, North American investors prefer tax havens in the Caribbean or Panama, with an estimated 54 percent of offshore investments going to those areas. Other popular tax dodging destinations were Switzerland, Ireland, and the Channel Islands, off the coast of England.   Transnational corporations also have an estimated $2 trillion in assets hidden in offshore tax havens or stashed in subsidiary corporations in countries with minimal or no corporate taxation.   While the use of offshore systems are not always illegal, they are often abused to dodge taxation, launder funds from criminal activity, and allow public officials to conceal assets from publicity and scrutiny. As the Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote, a “look through the Panama Papers very quickly reveals that concealing the identities of the true company owners was the primary aim in the vast majority of cases.”   This publicity will hopefully bolster the global movement against tax haven abuse, including the work of US networks such as Americans for Tax Fairness and the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT). The FACT Coalition has been advocating for transparency reforms such as disclosure of “beneficial ownership” of shell corporations and entities. It is pressing for passage of “The Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement Assistance Act” (H.R. 4450 and S. 2489) that would require all American companies, with a number of exceptions, to disclose the real people who own or control them when they are formed, and to keep that information updated.   FACT Coalition member Global Witness urges US-based activists to consider the considerable leverage we have in this country to change this system. The United States itself is a major tax haven, one of the easiest places to set up an anonymous shell company to move ill-gotten gains around the world.   And abuses of the offshore system are increasingly convenient. For $2,500, an individual can now purchase the “Complete Offshore Package” that includes an offshore corporation in Belize, an offshore trust in the Bahamas, and offshore Bank account at the Global Bank of Commerce in Antigua, and mail forwarding for one year. After the set-up, this will only cost $1,000 a year.   Systematically confronting offshore tax havens will require legislative action, international diplomacy, and sanctions and penalties aimed at both banks and tax-haven jurisdictions. Nations must establish treaties requiring uniform disclosure and transparency, both of banks and capital flows. The United States has enormous responsibility and leverage in fixing this broken system.   The Panama Papers are a boost to the global movement to stop tax-haven abuse and recapture trillions of the hidden wealth of nations. This story isn’t going away anytime soon.   http://www.thenation.com/article/panama-papers-expose-the-hidden-wealth-of-the-worlds-super-rich/ http://equitablegrowth.org/live-gabriel-zucman-presents-the-hidden-wealth-of-nations/ http://www.globalshellgames.com/media.html http://www.corporateknights.com/channels/leadership/going-offshore-14592311/ http://ctj.org/pdf/offshoreshell2015.pdf http://www.gfintegrity.org/press-release/massive-leak-secret-documents-panamanian-firm-reveal-movement-billions-dollars-suspect-transactions/ http://www.publicintegrity.org/2016/04/03/19503/massive-leak-reveals-offshore-accounts-world-leaders http://www.abc.net.au/4corners/stories/2016/04/04/4434529.htm http://www.democracynow.org/2016/4/5/panama_papers_world_leaders_rich_criminals http://billmoyers.com/story/the-panama-papers-what-theyre-all-about-2/ http://www.pbs.org/newshour/tag/panama-papers/ http://www.abc.net.au/radionational/programs/latenightlive/panama-shell-games/7300660 http://fcpamap.com/ http://www.globalintegrity.org/blog/ http://www.globalwitness.org/en-gb/press-releases/new-global-register-shine-light-anonymous-companies-root-cause-corrupt-illegal-activities/ Visit the related web page
	The right to a remedy and reparation for gross human rights violations by International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)   The right to a remedy and reparation for gross human rights violations – 2018 update to Practitioners’ Guide   Under its Global Redress and Accountability Initiative, the ICJ has launched its 2018 update to Practitioners’ Guide No 2, outlining the international legal principles governing the right to a remedy and reparation for victims of gross human rights violations and abuses by compiling international jurisprudence on the issues of reparations.   The Guide is aimed at practitioners who may find it useful to have international sources at hand for their legal, advocacy, social or other work.   Amongst revisions to the Guide, the 2018 update includes new sections on terminology and on non-discrimination;updated sections on the notions of ‘collective victims’, ‘collective rights’, the rights of ‘groups of individuals’; additional references to the work of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child; an updated section on remedies for unlawful detention, including references to the 2015 UN Basic Principles and Guidelines on Habeas Corpus; and updates on gender-based violence and on violations occurring in the context of business activities.   The Guide first recalls the States’ general duty to respect, protect, ensure and promote human rights, particularly the general duty of the State and the general consequences flowing from gross human rights violations (Chapter 1).   It then defines who is entitled to reparation: victims are, of course, the first beneficiaries of reparations, but other persons also have a right to reparation under certain circumstances (Chapter 2).   The Guide goes on to address the right to an effective remedy, the right to a prompt, thorough, independent and impartial investigation and the right to truth (Chapters 3-4).   It then addresses the consequences of gross human rights violations, i.e. the duty of the State to cease the violation if it is ongoing and to guarantee that no further violations will be committed (Chapter 6). It continues by describing the different aspects of the right to reparation, i.e. the right to restitution, compensation, rehabilitation and satisfaction (Chapter 7).   While the duty to prosecute and punish perpetrators of human rights violations is not necessarily part of the reparation as such, it is so closely linked to the victim’s right to redress and justice that it must be addressed in this Guide (Chapter 8).   Frequent factors of impunity, such as trials in military tribunals, amnesties or comparable measures and statutes of limitations for crimes under international law are also discussed (Chapter 9). Visit the related web page
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