Tax Avoidance

Featured Tax Avoidance

Tax haven residents hold $5.7 billion of cash in Australia

Residents of known tax havens held more than $5.7 billion of cash in Australian bank accounts, according to figures released for the first time, suggesting the local financial system remains vulnerable to money laundering and tax avoidance. The data from the Australian Taxation Office has been made public as part… Read More

Argentina confronts its multi-billion dollar offshore wealth problem

By Eli Moskowitz, OCCRP, 23 July 2020 OCCRP – As Argentina has been renegotiating its US$65 billion debt with foreign creditors, it is also grappling with the fact that up to six times that amount is believed to be held by its citizens and companies offshore. Repatriating a portion… Read More

U.K.’s Russia report demands major rethink of ‘Golden Visas’

A costly visa favored by Russian oligarchs and other wealthy investors should be completely revised because it was widely exploited and applicants weren’t adequately vetted, according to a report that laid out the scale of the country’s infiltration in U.K. society and politics. “The U.K. welcomed Russian money, and… Read More

22nd July 2020

Wife of drug kingpin Michael Ibrahim arrested with bankrupt George Alex

Construction industry identity George Alex, his son Arthur and the wife of jailed drug kingpin Michael Ibrahim are allegedly among members of a major crime syndicate who have been arrested over their involvement in tax fraud and money laundering. In raids across Sydney and the Gold Coast on Tuesday morning,… Read More

21st July 2020

A Fishy Business: Shifting Profits Out of Africa

By Margot Gibbs, Finance Uncovered, 20 July 2020 OCCRP — Leaked documents and an affidavit from a whistleblower working at a major Western fishing company operating in African waters have given rare insight into how food multinationals can shift profits around the world to avoid paying taxes in developing countries. Read More

21st July 2020

Bogus companies, fake congregations, tax schemes — Goldstein’s years of fraud revealed

The Clarence S. Brooks Foundation is located in a nondescript three-story building on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles that also has a Wells Fargo bank branch and an urgent care among its tenants. From there, the small charitable foundation established in 2004 that had $5.8 million in assets at the… Read More

20th July 2020

Ex-Catalan premier Jordi Pujol and entire family facing trial over suspect fortune

A seven-and-a-half-year investigation into the origins of a fortune amassed by former Catalan premier Jordi Pujol has ended, bringing him, his wife and their seven children closer to standing trial for money laundering and other crimes. Judge José de la Mata of Spain’s High Court (Audiencia Nacional) on Thursday recommended… Read More

20th July 2020

Boohoo founder Jalal Kamani linked to laundering case

A co-founder of Boohoo has been running a fast-fashion brand with two associates who were investigated over accusations of links to organised crime and money laundering. Jalal Kamani, 60, now runs the I Saw it First women’s wear website and has been connected to a factory in Leicester at… Read More

17th July 2020

UBS will no longer be able to contest client data sent to France tax authorities: Swiss court

UBS will no longer be informed or be able to contest customer data the Swiss tax authorities hand over to counterparties in France investigating alleged tax avoidance, a Swiss court said on Wednesday. Switzerland’s Federal Administrative Court upheld a decision to revoke UBS’s position as a party to the arrangements over… Read More

17th July 2020

Malta: €27.6 million recovered from Panama Papers, Swiss Leaks probe

Tax authorities have investigated 237 cases in connection with the 2016 Panama Papers leak and a further 96 over Swiss Leaks and have so far recouped more than €27.6 million, Finance Minister Edward Scicluna said on Wednesday. Scicluna said €14.2 million was recovered from 163 concluded cases following the Panama… Read More

16th July 2020

Allegations over offshore funds swirl around Spain’s former king

Damaging allegations over the financial arrangements of Spain’s former king Juan Carlos have placed the royal family under unprecedented scrutiny but are unlikely to result in current or futures monarchs losing their constitutional immunity, according to legal experts. Juan Carlos abdicated in favour of his son, Felipe, six years ago,… Read More

13th July 2020

‘Magnitsky Act’ will fail while Britain remains money laundering hub, experts warn

By Adam Bychawski, openDemocracy, 10 July 2020 openDemocracy — MPs and anti-corruption campaigners have warned that the British government’s proposed ‘Magnitsky-style’ sanctions regime is not enough to tackle money laundering amid fears that Britain has become a ‘global hub for financial crime’. On Monday, the UK imposed sanctions against 49… Read More

13th July 2020

Trump taxes likely going to Manhattan D.A., but maybe few others

President Donald Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns has long fed a belief among his critics that they must contain politically damaging financial information or even evidence of criminal conduct. The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the way for Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance to get his hands… Read More

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