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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?


To: Maurice Winn who wrote (101178)6/17/2013 5:22:15 PM
From: TobagoJack  Respond to of 217546
 
hello maurice, re britain and tax havens, uk authorities may be sincere about crippling its tax haven biz

if truly so, i fear that the minus on economic freedom foreshadows the crippling of all other freedoms

ft.com

UK’s offshore finance centres commit to tackling tax evasionAll of Britain’s offshore finance centres have committed to sign a treaty tackling evasion, in a boost to David Cameron’s efforts to secure agreements on transparency from other world leaders next week.

Danny Alexander, chief secretary to the Treasury said the decision by all Britain’s Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies to sign the multilateral convention on mutual tax assistance would “strengthen enormously” the arguments for greater transparency at next week’s summit of the G8 group of leading countries.

The announcement was made at a meeting of political leaders, business representatives and civil society in London on the agenda of trade, tax and transparency.

Mr Cameron also promised to consult on whether to make public a planned central register of the ‘beneficial ownership’ of companies, which will reveal who are their ultimate owners. Campaigners have called for public registers to maximise scrutiny of potential illicit deals.

He said more transparency was needed because “some people use complicated and fake structures to hide their profits and avoid taxes and also because bribes are often held in opaquely-owned companies with bank accounts in secretive havens.”

Mr Cameron said “The most important thing is that it is available to tax authorities. It will be their first point of call to try and uncover corrupt payments or tax evasion.

“We will consult on whether it will be public but personally I would hope the whole world will move towards public registers of beneficial ownership.”

He added: “I want to maximise the leverage the UK has over others in terms of taking each step in turn and want to make sure that business and enterprise comes with us on this debate. “

Will Morris, chair of the tax committee of the CBI said it was “very supportive of the idea of a register of beneficial ownership. “We think it is a ‘no brainer’”, he said. He said the CBI did not yet have a view of whether it should be public or private but he personally would support making it public.

Mr Cameron told the meeting: “Each and everyone of our Overseas Territorities and Crown Dependencies has agreed to sign up to the multilateral convention on information exchange.

“They have also agreed to exchange information automatically with the United Kingdom and to produce action plans on beneficial ownership.

Mr Cameron said he would call on other international partners to work with their territories reach similar agreements.

Although most of the Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories had already committed to sign the treaty, some had expressed reservations.

In a statement, Bermuda said the concerns it had expressed about signing the multilateral convention were because Bermuda’s fiscal system was not appropriate for automatic exchange of tax information. But it added, the ‘wisdom of the drafters’ of the multilateral convention meant that automatic exchange was based on mutual need and mutual agreement of both parties.

The decision of all the offshore centres to commit to the treaty will help neutralise some of the criticism frequently levelled at the UK by other countries asked to make concessions on transparency although reservations are likely to remain regarding the transparency of trusts.

All the overseas territories and crown dependencies said they supported the government’s drive on transparency but Richard Hay, counsel to the IFC Forum, which represents professional firms in British offshore centres, said the UK was taking a risk of an own goal by moving ahead of other countries, particularly the US.



To: Maurice Winn who wrote (101178)6/17/2013 5:41:11 PM
From: TobagoJack  Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 217546
 
cheney is not only out of date but misunderstanding the process

whereas china has a veto should hong kong decides to boot young edward to usa to face cheney and his ilk

but china absolutely would not intervene should hong kong choose to keep young edward

china is not going to risk hong kong and taiwan and peaceful rise in favor of satisfying cheney and anyone wishing hong kong to do their bidding hat would be not in accordance w/ 1-country-2-systems, because there is no % in the act over the long run and it could trigger a serious wave of blowback on the domestic political scene

and so it is now really up to the hong kong court, that which features judges from many rule-of-law places

scmp.com

Snowden: hope of a fair trial 'destroyed'
Whistle-blower Edward Snowden last night accused the US government of destroying "any possibility of a fair trial" as he took questions in a live webchat organised by The Guardian newspaper.

It was only the second time Snowden had spoken since revealing himself as the man behind a series of leaks on US cybersurveillance and hacking operations.

He accused the US government of "openly declaring me guilty of treason" and saying that "the disclosure of secret, criminal, and even unconstitutional acts is an unforgivable crime".

"That's not justice, and it would be foolish to volunteer yourself to it if you can do more good outside of prison than in it," he said in reply to a question fromGuardian reporter Glenn Greenwald.

He claimed not to have revealed US operations against legitimate military targets, only attacks on civilian infrastructure including hospitals and universities, which he described as "nakedly, aggressively criminal acts".

Asked why he chose to fly to Hong Kong rather than directly to Iceland, the country he claims he wants to seek asylum in, Snowden said: "There was a distinct possibility I would be interdicted en route, so I had to travel with no advance booking to a country with the cultural and legal framework to allow me to work without being immediately detained.

"Hong Kong provided that. Iceland could be pushed harder, quicker, before the public could have a chance to make their feelings known."

Hundreds of questions were posted by readers of the online chat, which started at 11pm Hong Kong time.

"The US Government is not going to be able to cover this up by jailing or murdering me," Snowden said in reply to a question about whether he had made more copies of the documents he disclosed.

Snowden's comments came on the day Beijing responded for the first time to the US cybersnooping programme he exposed, denying an allegation Snowden was spying for Beijing and demanding that Washington explain the operation to the international community.

"It is sheer nonsense," said Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying when asked at a daily news briefing to comment on the allegation put forward by former US vice-president Dick Cheney and other US politicians.

"The US should pay attention to the concerns and demands of the international community and the public over the issue, and provide a necessary explanation to the international community."

On Fox News Sunday, Cheney said China would "probably be willing to provide immunity for [Snowden] or sanctuary for him in exchange for what he presumably knows or doesn't know".