Discover and read the best of Twitter Threads about #LuxLeaks
Most recents (18)
Happy #PanamaPapers anniversary! Often we take these moments to tell you how the investigation led to laws changed, bad folks arrested, money recovered, etc. But this year, we took a different measure of impact… 🧵 1/14
On a personal note (@hamishbr here at the controls), I remember being caught by surprise in the days after the #PanamaPapers by the protests and the resignations... But what really surprises me *now* are the ways the investigation has infiltrated everyday life and culture. 2/14
So today’s story from @michaelwhudson really struck a chord. A couple of young musicians told him that, as highschoolers, the investigation opened their eyes to “how the world works” — so much so that, years later, they named their band Panama Papers. icij.org/investigations… 3/14
Seven years ago, I called #LeonardCohen's *Everybody Knows* "the perfect anthem for our times."
> Everybody knows the fight was fixed
> The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
> That’s how it goes
> Everybody knows
memex.craphound.com/2016/11/11/leo… 1/
> Everybody knows the fight was fixed
> The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
> That’s how it goes
> Everybody knows
memex.craphound.com/2016/11/11/leo… 1/
If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:
pluralistic.net/2023/03/16/com… 2/
pluralistic.net/2023/03/16/com… 2/
That was just after Cohen died, and while the world seems to want to settle on *Hallelujah* as his totemic song, *Everybody Knows* keeps inserting itself into the discourse, in the most toxic, hope-draining way possible. 3/
Séisme mondial.
35 chefs d’État & 130 milliardaires (Tony Blair, DSK, rock-stars etc) épinglés dans les #PandoraPapers pour avoir placé des milliers de milliards de $ à l’abri dans les paradis fiscaux : ils volent l'Etat et font sécession pour satisfaire leurs intérêts privés
35 chefs d’État & 130 milliardaires (Tony Blair, DSK, rock-stars etc) épinglés dans les #PandoraPapers pour avoir placé des milliers de milliards de $ à l’abri dans les paradis fiscaux : ils volent l'Etat et font sécession pour satisfaire leurs intérêts privés
#LuxLeaks
#SwissLeaks
#PanamaPapers
#MaltaFiles
#ParadisePapers
#OpenLux
Et désormais les #PandoraPapers : en moins de 10 ans, ces affaires illustrent combien le système financier international permet et encourage la criminalité en col blanc, en toute impunité.
#SwissLeaks
#PanamaPapers
#MaltaFiles
#ParadisePapers
#OpenLux
Et désormais les #PandoraPapers : en moins de 10 ans, ces affaires illustrent combien le système financier international permet et encourage la criminalité en col blanc, en toute impunité.
En pratiquant l'#EvasionFiscale à grande échelle, chefs d'Etat, milliardaires, stars du showbiz piétinent l'intérêt général : ces milliards d'euros détournés sont autant de crèches, d'écoles, d'hôpitaux qui ne sont pas construits, et de politiques climatiques non menées.
Some things are hard to understand because they're complicated, but when it comes to finance - and finance crimes - we enter the real of things that are complicated so they'll be hard to understand.
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(If you'd like an unrolled version of this thread to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:)
pluralistic.net/2021/06/20/la-…
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pluralistic.net/2021/06/20/la-…
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The @Propublica #SecretIRSFiles leaks reveal the wealthy pay infinitesimal amounts of tax and the ultra-rich often pay no tax at all.
Propublica is careful to note that all of this is legal - that it's how the system is supposed to work.
pluralistic.net/2021/06/15/gui…
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Propublica is careful to note that all of this is legal - that it's how the system is supposed to work.
pluralistic.net/2021/06/15/gui…
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Amazon’s latest corporate filings in Luxembourg revealed that the company collected record sales income of €44bn (£38bn) in Europe last year, but did not have to pay any corporation tax to the U.K., @guardian reports. theguardian.com/technology/202…
This year, countries are expected to negotiate a global minimum corporate tax scheme and digital tax reform at the OECD in order to get big tech companies and multinationals to “pay their fair share and do so in the right place.” icij.org/inside-icij/20…
ICIJ's #LuxLeaks investigation brought attention to Luxembourg's role as a corporate tax haven for multinational companies that cut deals around complex financial structures designed to create drastic tax reductions. icij.org/investigations…
1/ THREAD: The Biden administration is trying to tackle corporate profit shifting -- the way US multinationals avoid taxes by pushing their profits into offshore havens. I thought it would be useful to post some pieces that show how we got here:
2/ Back in 2003, Reed College economist @kclausing, (now high up in the Biden Treasury Dept.), examined international trade data and found much evidence of tax-motivated profit shifting offshore: sciencedirect.com/science/articl…
3/ Economist @M_SullivanTax dug through SEC filings for dozens of drug companies, Here he found Pfizer had not reported a dollar in US profit to investors for five years (but nearly $70 billion abroad) keeping its taxes low: taxhistory.org/www/features.n…
🚨Les scandaleux contrats entre la Commission 🇪🇺 et les #BigFour🚨
La Commission a versé 462 millions € à quatre célèbres cabinets de conseils (PWC, KPMG, Deloitte et EY) entre 2016 et 2019.
A la clé : privatisation de l'action publique, conflits d'intérêt et austérité⬇️
La Commission a versé 462 millions € à quatre célèbres cabinets de conseils (PWC, KPMG, Deloitte et EY) entre 2016 et 2019.
A la clé : privatisation de l'action publique, conflits d'intérêt et austérité⬇️
Les Big Four reçoivent des tombereaux d'argent public pour assurer les "réformes structurelles" des secteurs les plus sensibles de l'Etat : justice, marché du travail, santé et services sociaux.
Avec un objectif pour Bruxelles, l'austérité. euractiv.fr/section/econom…
Avec un objectif pour Bruxelles, l'austérité. euractiv.fr/section/econom…
La Commission sous-traite donc l'action publique à des entreprises connues pour leurs biais néolibéraux.
Nous avons pourtant l'expertise nécessaire parmi nos fonctionnaires ! S'agit alors d'imposer une autre logique, celle de la rentabilité, au cœur des institutions publiques ?
Nous avons pourtant l'expertise nécessaire parmi nos fonctionnaires ! S'agit alors d'imposer une autre logique, celle de la rentabilité, au cœur des institutions publiques ?
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg is a founding member of the EU, but it's also a rogue state, enabling massive corruption throughout the trading bloc; while Cyprus and Malta will sell any corrupt robber-baron EU citizenship, it's Luxembourg that leads in laundering their money.
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As the @TaxJusticeNet's @nickshaxson memorably put it, Luxembourg is "a criminal enterprise with a country attached" - a country where corporations are guaranteed "an easy ride on taxes, disclosure, financial regulations, and criminal enforcement."
taxjustice.net/2019/11/01/if-…
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taxjustice.net/2019/11/01/if-…
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2014's #Luxleaks exposed some of the worst corruption, whereby @PwC worked with Luxembourg officials to secure illegal tax benefits for major corporations and the world's richest people.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LuxLeaks
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en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LuxLeaks
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The #Fincen leaks are the latest finance corruption megaleak, following #ParadisePapers (2017), #PanamaPapers (2016), #SwissLeaks (2015), #Luxleaks (2014). It's a trove of 2100 "Suspicious Activity Reports" (SARs) from the US Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network.
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The reporting on the leaks was shared among multiple journalism orgs, including @BBCPanorama, @Buzzfeed, and more than 100 other orgs in 88 countries, coordinated by the @ICIJorg, whose master report is a key to the whole leak:
icij.org/investigations…
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icij.org/investigations…
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Here's the nut: the world's largest banks knowingly laundered billions of dollars for the worst criminals, looters and oligarchs in the world. The financial regulators knew they were doing it.
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Ich werde immer wieder gefragt wie ich dazu komme in Skandalen wie #Wirecard oder #CumEx zu wühlen. Ich habe mir das nicht ausgesucht. Als Frischling im EU Parlament versuchte Jean Claude Juncker mich einmal zu den #LuxLeaks anzuflunkern spiegel.de/wirtschaft/soz…
Alles was ich gemacht hatte waren meine Hausaufgaben. Ich hatte mich mit der Luxemburger Linken ausgetauscht, die mir von der fehlenden Seite des Krecke Berichtes erzählten. Dies gab später den Impuls für ein von mir initiiertes Netzwerk von Abgeordneten aus der EU,
die von der Schweiz bis Großbritannien für Steuergerechtigkeit stritten. Die Detektivarbeit machte mir Spaß. Whistleblower kontaktierten mich und ich erfuhr vor der Veröffentlichung von den #PanamaPapers Dies führte zum Telefonstreich bei #MossackFonseca spiegel.de/wirtschaft/soz…
Acusado de 93 crimes, Ana.
Não 1, não 2… noventa e três!
E o seu advogado? Também acusado.
A magistrada foi clara: "nunca poderia ser considerado um whistleblower, porque isso aplica-se aos denunciantes de boa fé". Não a quem vive da extorsão.
É por demais evidente para todos.
Não 1, não 2… noventa e três!
E o seu advogado? Também acusado.
A magistrada foi clara: "nunca poderia ser considerado um whistleblower, porque isso aplica-se aos denunciantes de boa fé". Não a quem vive da extorsão.
É por demais evidente para todos.
Já agora, e para todos os que como eu gostam de pensar pela própria cabeça, fiquem a saber que a Ana Gomes não está à espera que saibam quem é esta malta. Têm todos algo em comum, mas não com o Rui Pinto. O que será?
• Hervé Falciani: nunca fez extorsão, foi acusado de espionagem
• Deltour: nunca fez extorsão, foi acusado de passar info a jornalistas, e foi até agora o único cuja acusação foi revertida no #LuxLeaks
• Rudolf Elmer: nunca fez extorsão
• Maria Efimova: nunca fez extorsão
• Deltour: nunca fez extorsão, foi acusado de passar info a jornalistas, e foi até agora o único cuja acusação foi revertida no #LuxLeaks
• Rudolf Elmer: nunca fez extorsão
• Maria Efimova: nunca fez extorsão
La répression policière ne nous arrêtera pas. ✊
La mise #HorsService d'Amazon, Total et BNP Paribas est en cours, PARTOUT EN FRANCE !
Avec les ami·es de @ccfd_tsolidaire @amisdelaterre @AnvCop21...
#StopImpunite
Découvrez les mobilisations locales dans ce thread ⤵️
La mise #HorsService d'Amazon, Total et BNP Paribas est en cours, PARTOUT EN FRANCE !
Avec les ami·es de @ccfd_tsolidaire @amisdelaterre @AnvCop21...
#StopImpunite
Découvrez les mobilisations locales dans ce thread ⤵️
El FMI ha sacado un informe sobre evasión fiscal y blanqueo de capitales que la verdad que es brutal 👇#hilo
imf.org/external/pubs/…
imf.org/external/pubs/…
A pesar de que estos flujos son opacos porque son esencialmente ilícitos, y por lo tanto difíciles de investigar, cada vez tenemos más información y se pone más el foco en ellos, gracias sobretodo a la investigación periodística y académica
Por ejemplo gracias al Consorcio Internacional de Periodismo de Investigación (@ICIJ) conocimos los #panamapapers o los #LuxLeaks que destaparon miles de casos de fraude fiscal y permitieron sacar a la luz estas estructuras opacas de evasión icij.org/investigations…
The #PanamaPapers spurred countries to crack down on tax avoidance and claw back lost revenue. Three years later, $1.2 billion USD has been recouped. Here’s a country-by-country breakdown of that figure:
🇵🇦 Authorities told @laprensa in Panama they’d recouped $14.1 million in properties and cash as a result of ongoing investigations.
🇫🇷 France collected over $135 million in fees and penalties stemming from than 500 inspections. It’s the first time money from France has been revealed to our partner outlet @lemondefr.
IMPACT: Finally! Almost five years after @ICIJorg & our brilliant media partners exposed the #LuxLeaks tax avoidance scandal, @vestager at the European Commission has opened an investigation into suspected illegal state aid europa.eu/rapid/press-re…
...OK, not many have heard of Finnish firm Huhtamäki - the €3.4bn maker of egg box and Burger King drink cups. But the tax ruling they received from Luxembourg, thanks to @PwC, was shocking, as @EU_Competition explains👇...
...only last month, @ICIJorg asked why the @vestager had not yet opened a single case against LuxLeaks tax rulings - especially given some cases involved fictitious interest payments👇...
icij.org/investigations…
icij.org/investigations…
ICYMI the @Europarl_EN's TAX3 committee - which included conservative and socialist MEPs - this week published a year-long inquiry report, sparked by @ICIJorg's #LuxLeaks, #PanamaPapers & #ParadisePapers.
It found: 7 EU MEMBER STATES ARE TAX HAVENS
europarl.europa.eu/news/hr/press-…
It found: 7 EU MEMBER STATES ARE TAX HAVENS
europarl.europa.eu/news/hr/press-…
...and TAX3 chair Petr Ježek explains that these seven EU tax havens are able to block meaningful tax reforms at @EUCouncil, frustrating the will of other member states (all of which are missing tax revenues as a result of the 7) multimedia.europarl.europa.eu/en/press-confe…
...and who perfected this strategy of predatory EU tax competition blended with with cynical obstructive maneuvering at the EU Council level?
Answer: Former Luxembourg prime minister @JunckerEU
theguardian.com/business/2017/…
Answer: Former Luxembourg prime minister @JunckerEU
theguardian.com/business/2017/…
“Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations.”
Longish thread on the shutting down of journalism (and whistleblowing) that makes people uncomfortable…
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Longish thread on the shutting down of journalism (and whistleblowing) that makes people uncomfortable…
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When @TaxJusticeNet was getting started in the early 2000s, @jechristensen56 and others were opening up a whole new area
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In many countries, there had been little or no public scrutiny of #taxjustice issues like the widespread abuse of ‘tax havens’ by elites, or the systemic nature of tax avoidance by major companies and their enablers like the big four accounting firms
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1. Are advanced tax rulings just a mechanism to corrupt the normal application of tax rules to multinational companies? (A quick thread as work avoidance)
2. The attraction, on paper, is that multinational companies get certainty about (some) tax treatment; as do tax authorities, who can then focus their limited resources elsewhere.
3. The risks? That the negotiation over advanced tax rulings is even more unbalanced than the usual negotiation over multinationals' actual tax payments. The tax authority has no threat of demanding audit or payment; and cannot devote the same level of resources.
