Juliette Garside - Paradise Papers leak reveals secrets of the world elite's hidden wealth
NB: Here's a simple question, away from the capitalism vs socialism debate. Why do the world's economic elite need to secretly avoid or sidestep their own regulatory systems? Why do those directly or indirectly associated with governance deliberately undermine the laws that they demand everyone else should respect? Any answers from our local worshippers of Market Forces? DS
The world’s biggest
businesses, heads of state and global figures in politics, entertainment and
sport who have sheltered their wealth in secretive tax havens are being
revealed this week in a major new investigation into Britain’s offshore
empires. The details come from
a leak of 13.4m files that expose the global environments in which tax abuses
can thrive – and the complex and seemingly artificial ways the wealthiest
corporations can legally protect their wealth.
The material, which
has come from two offshore service providers and the company registries of 19
tax havens, was obtained by the German newspaper Süddeutsche
Zeitung and shared by the International
Consortium of Investigative Journalists with partners including the
Guardian, the BBC and the New
York Times.
The project has been
called the Paradise Papers. It reveals:
- Millions
of pounds from the Queen’s private estate has been invested in a Cayman
Islands fund – and some of her money went to a retailer accused
of exploiting poor families and vulnerable people.
- Extensive
offshore dealings by Donald Trump’s cabinet members, advisers and donors,
including substantial payments from a firm
co-owned by Vladimir Putin’s son-in-law to the shipping group of the US
commerce secretary, Wilbur Ross.
- How Twitter
and Facebook received hundreds of millions of dollars in investments that
can be traced back to Russian state financial institutions.
- The tax-avoiding Cayman Islands
trust managed
by the Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau’s chief moneyman.
read more:https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/05/paradise-papers-leak-reveals-secrets-of-world-elites-hidden-wealth
Giles Fraser - The truth about capitalism is out as Marx’s magic cap starts to slip