Not long after the U.S. Department of Justice’s Tax Division (“DOJ”) made international headlines in 2009 for its bombshell announcement that it had entered into a deferred prosecution agreement with the United Bank of Switzerland (UBS), lawmakers in Washington, D.C. began reviewing the testimony of hundreds of UBS’s U.S. clients… – Continue reading
BELIZE CITY, Mon. Feb. 23, 2015–It’s far easier to move money from Belize via an offshore company than to deposit those funds in a local commercial bank, especially with more stringent banking requirements which have been implemented as part of the new anti-money laundering regime here in Belize. If a… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) — Argentine tax authorities said Sunday they are seeking the arrest of money manager Miguel Abadi for alleged involvement in an offshore investment network designed to avoid paying taxes. The agency, in a statement, said it’s seeking information from tax agencies in the Virgin Islands, Uruguay and Bermuda about… – Continue reading
As disclosed recently in a bankruptcy court filing, on January 27, 2015, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (“FinCEN”) imposed a $10 million civil money penalty pursuant to the Bank Secrecy Act (the “BSA”) on Trump Taj Mahal Associates LLC. Trump Taj Mahal consented to the imposition of the penalty (subject… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: The State Bank has blocked the suspicious transactions of $65 million originating from Malaysis after finding a suspicious transaction report (STR). The National Action Plan on counter-terrorism requires strict monitoring of banking transactions and active coordination among federal and provincial investigation agencies. So far about 500 accounts are reported… – Continue reading
When I consider what’s likely to have the most impact in tax this year, I keep coming back to the massive shift in attitude by tax authorities in the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Usually changes in the tax world are incremental, but what is going on now… – Continue reading
Tax collections, so maintains the Federal Minister for Finance Ishaq Dar, have improved significantly and he cited a healthy growth rate of around 13 percent in one of his recent press conferences. Sources within the Ministry of Finance, however, revealed to Business Recorder, but on condition of anonymity that the… – Continue reading
(Bloomberg) — Swiss prosecutors are scrambling to explain why they took seven years to probe suspicions of money laundering aroused by data stolen from HSBC Holdings Plc’s private bank in Geneva. Inspired by Feb. 8 disclosures by the Washington-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists that HSBC did business with arms… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on Thursday reiterated its allegations of money laundering against Finance Minister Ishaq Dar, saying he has transferred $4 million to his son in Dubai to avoid taxes. “The biggest investor in this case is our very own Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. He has on record… – Continue reading
Hervè Falciani, the former HSBC employee who became a whistle-blower by handing over details of client bank accounts to French authorities, triggering investigations into money laundering and tax evasion, believes many other banks are involved in similar practises. In an interview with the Italian newspaper La Stampa, Falciani said that… – Continue reading
Under-fire banking giant HSBC will next week report profits of nearly £15billion – or a staggering £40million a day. The group is expected to post annual results for 2014 in line with the previous year when it updates investors on Monday. But the bumper figures are likely to be overshadowed… – Continue reading
BERLIN – Geneva prosecutors searched the premises of HSBC’s Swiss subsidiary on Wednesday after launching a money-laundering investigation over a report that the bank helped hide millions of dollars for drug traffickers, arms dealers and celebrities. Prosecutors said they were investigating HSBC Private Bank (Suisse) SA and persons unknown for… – Continue reading
Mumbai: As a probe continues into the misuse of stock markets for evading taxes and laundering black money, 4-5 cartels of market operators have been identified for making illicit gains or showing fictional losses of several thousands of crores of rupees over last 2-3 years. According to sources, both ‘bull’… – Continue reading
A team of journalists from 45 nations who investigated documents leaked by a former systems engineer working for banking giant HSBC’s Geneva, Switzerland branch, found HSBC managed secret bank accounts for criminals, drug traffickers, tax dodgers, politicians and celebrities. The documents, covering the period from 2005 to 2007 revealed, according… – Continue reading
Basel, Switzerland (dpa) – Swiss prosecutors searched HSBC‘s private bank in Geneva Wednesday after launching an investigation into aggravated money laundering against the financial institute. The Geneva prosecution office said it was reacting to last week‘s media reports, which alleged that the Swiss branch of the major British lender helped… – Continue reading
This week revelations on BBC’s Panorama have sparked an explosive scandal: HSBC, the UK’s largest – and the world’s second largest – bank, has been caught facilitating industrial-scale tax evasion, committed by some of its wealthiest clients. Thousands of leaked bank account files obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative… – Continue reading
KUALA LUMPUR: A student movement today demanded that the government make it mandatory for top officials to publicly declare their assets in the wake of news about Malaysian public figures keeping millions of ringgit in offshore accounts. Anak Muda Harapan Malaysia (AMHM) said in a press statement that wealth declaration… – Continue reading
PREMIER Rufus Ewing has called out United Kingdom Opposition Leader, Edward Miliband for published statements he recently made regarding the TCI being a tax haven. Miliband is reported in the UK press as stating that the UK overseas territories (OT) are not complying with UK directives on beneficial ownership of… – Continue reading
Public fury over tax dodging by some clients of HSBC’s Swiss arm is set to escalate after sources close to the Revenue’s investigation said there would be no more prosecutions for tax evasion. Despite Revenue and Customs being handed details of 6,000 Swiss bank accounts held by UK residents and… – Continue reading
COMPANIES registered in Caribbean islands by Cypriot law firms or consultancies form the bulk of the list of Cyprus-affiliated entries with deposits in HSBC Switzerland, daily Politis reported yesterday. The paper claimed to have obtained access to the full list of 106,000 depositors in the Swiss bank during 2006 and… – Continue reading
Feb 13 (Reuters) – France’s finance minister said on Friday Paris had not restricted the use of HSBC client data it passed on to UK authorities to help pursue tax evaders, contradicting comments by a senior British official. Britain’s Financial Secretary to the Treasury David Gauke said in parliament this… – Continue reading
In the last several years, a “record” number of Americans abroad have been giving up their passports: That’s supposedly due to the demands of the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, known as FATCA, a US law enacted in 2010 to fight tax evasion by forcing foreign banks to share information… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: Committing to boost trade ties, India and the US today resolved to enhance cooperation, remove obstacles to investment flows and work towards early adoption of FATCA to facilitate automatic flow of tax information. “We are committed to share our experiences in tackling offshore tax evasion and avoidance. We… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: India and the US on Thursday committed to take the renewed India-US partnership forward through “shared effort and progress for all” when Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Jacob J. Lew, US Secretary of the Treasury, met in the Capital for the Fifth Annual India-US Economic and Financial Partnership…. – Continue reading
Documents detail customers who faced allegations including drug-running, corruption, doping and money laundering This article is the subject of a legal complaint made on behalf of Anura Perera. HSBC’s Swiss bank concealed large sums of money for people facing allegations of serious wrongdoing, including drug-running, corruption and money laundering, leaked… – Continue reading
LONDON – The chief executive of Britain’s tax agency was questioned by politicians over leaked documents that describe how HSBC’s Swiss private banking arm helped clients, including politicians, rock stars and dealers of illicit diamonds, hide billions of dollars before 2007. Members of Parliament criticized Lin Homer, the chief of… – Continue reading
According to the analysis of clandestine files belonging to British banking giant HSBC, it appears that the Swiss banking branch of the conglomerate played a pivotal role in assisting affluent depositors evade taxes on their mega million. A report released on Sunday, Feb 8, by a cadre of reporters representing… – Continue reading
NAMIBIANS who have Swiss bank accounts could face an Anti-Corruption Commission investigation if they evaded tax and money was transferred after the graft body was established. ACC director Paulus Noa told The Namibian yesterday that the ACC can only investigate the accounts if any Namibian holders of Swiss bank accounts… – Continue reading
Latin-American politicians Horacio Cartes (president of Paraguay), Álvaro Noboa (former president of Ecuador), and Alejandro Andrade (Venezuela’s ex-national treasurer) have one thing in common: they all possessed, until at least 2007, secret accounts with HSBC’s private Swiss bank. This according to the Swissleaks report published on Sunday, February 8, which… – Continue reading
GENEVA: HSBC’s Swiss banking arm, which according to leaked documents helped wealthy customers avoid millions in taxes in the past, insisted Monday it has since undergone a “radical transformation”. “HSBC’s Swiss Private Bank began a radical transformation in 2008 to prevent its services from being used to evade taxes or… – Continue reading
There is a saying that you can fool the people sometimes, but you can’t fool the people all the time. People patronising a bank might feel that high science is being practised in the back offices of banks; science beyond the ken of ordinary mortals. Perhaps! Related articles Barbados banks… – Continue reading
SAS supports Dubai Islamic Bank with Anti-Money Laundering solutions Dubai – SAS, the leader in business analytics software and services, announced its collaboration with Dubai Islamic Bank ( DIB ) to help prevent money laundering among the bank’s customers. SAS will support the bank with Anti-Money Laundering (AML) solutions that… – Continue reading
(Reuters) – U.S. federal prosecutors have launched a new probe into whether Swiss bank UBS AG helped Americans evade taxes through investments banned in the United States, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the investigation. UBS, which paid $780 million in 2009 to settle a separate Justice… – Continue reading
The ultimate owners of firms would have to be listed in central registers in EU countries, accessible to people with a “legitimate interest”, such as investigative journalists and other concerned citizens, under a deal struck by Parliament and Council negotiators on a draft EU anti-money laundering directive on Tuesday. The… – Continue reading
ISLAMABAD – Chaudhary Nisar Ali Khan, Interior Minister of Pakistan, directed the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) for cutting down the financial supply given by any foreign or local investor to the militant groups. He was presiding a meeting of FIA in Islamabad wherein updating about the recent performance the FIA… – Continue reading
Law360, New York (February 03, 2015, 10:22 PM ET) — Casino operator Caesars Entertainment Corp. has created a new anti-money laundering position in the wake of federal inquiries into its practices, hiring away a top compliance expert from Wal-Mart Stores Inc., according to a spokesman. Former Wal-Mart compliance expert Ben… – Continue reading
Weak governance means Africa loses more than $50bn each year in unpaid taxes and money laundering, a new report has found. The analysis, published jointly by the African Union and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, concluded that a lack of financial transparency and difficulties in obtaining systematic data… – Continue reading
The police are carrying out 146 searches in Bucharest and other 11 counties, targeting 90 people from IT and construction companies, suspected of money laundering and tax evasion. They are believed to have created damages of EUR 30 million to the state budget. Among the companies under the lens are… – Continue reading
LIGHTNING RELEASES (1/30/2015) – Attorney Gary S. Wolfe of The Wolfe Law Group is pleased to announce, after 12 years of research, the publication of his 10th book, Offshore Tax Evasion: The IRS and Swiss Banks, now available for immediate download through the Amazon Kindle store. Switzerland is the epicenter… – Continue reading
The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has posted tax investigators to foreign embassies to lead a Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) crackdown on suspected tax evasion. The Asia Pacific financial centres of Hong and Singapore are two of the main targets, according to industry experts. The move follows claims… – Continue reading
Santo Domingo.- Internal Taxes Agency director Guarocuya Felix on Thursday warned that Dominican Republic must soon dismantle the barriers which limit the automatic access to information of the financial sector’s taxpayers, because despite the Arbitration Court resolution to break banking secrecy when the tax administration so requires, the information doesn’t… – Continue reading
This story has been updated. At her confirmation hearing Wednesday, attorney general-designate Loretta Lynch said she has been “very aggressive” in pursuing white-collar crime. “At the outset, no individual is ‘too big to jail.’ And no one is above the law,” said Lynch. Yet according to a new report from… – Continue reading
London is a global haven for criminal financial activity – with billions of pounds laundered through British banks each day, according to the head of the UK’s National Crime Agency. “Many hundreds of billions of pounds of criminal money is almost certainly laundered through UK banks and their subsidiaries each… – Continue reading
The existence of 1MDB’s RM7 billion in the Cayman Islands and its return to Malaysia must be verified. KUALA LUMPUR: Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli urged Bank Negara Governor Zeti Akhtar Aziz, in a statement on Wednesday, to invoke the Anti Money Laundering Act and ensure that a reported RM7 billion… – Continue reading
LUXEMBOURG – A second French suspect was charged Friday with theft and money-laundering in ongoing investigations into the leaking of secret tax avoidance deals between Luxembourg and multinational companies, a scandal dubbed “Luxleaks.” The identity of the new suspect was not released, but he is a 38-year-old Frenchman and former… – Continue reading
NEW DELHI: The government may prosecute those accused of evading taxes under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) as part of a wide ranging crackdown on black money. Further, non-declaration of foreign bank accounts and assets may also be made a criminal offence, according to people who have been… – Continue reading
The news that the government was considering to include fiscal offences like serious tax crimes/tax evasion into the ambit of money laundering under the proposed Anti-Money Laundering Act (AMLA) would appear to be quite strange for the business community and other taxpayers. This surprising piece of information was disclosed by… – Continue reading
2014 was a year replete with new legislative and regulatory initiatives impacting federally regulated financial institutions. The key initiatives introduced or implemented in 2014 are outlined in our annual year in review. PRUDENTIAL REGULATION: GUIDANCE FROM OSFI Proposed New Bail-in Regime for Large Banks On August 1, 2014, the Government… – Continue reading
Costa Rica’s going under the magnifying glass for the next two weeks as international money laundering experts comb through the country’s books. President Luis Guillermo Solís declared the audit from the Financial Action Task Force of Latin America (GAFILAT) a subject of national interest in Monday’s edition of the official… – Continue reading
The US IRS system being launched for Fatca compliance filing places new demands on firms seeking to comply with the foreign tax withholding law. Will the new system prove workable? The launch by the US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) this week of its International Data Exchange Service (IDES) seems intended… – Continue reading
