5 – Abolish Bank Secrecy

Bank Secrecy = Global Corruption.

Bank Secrecy is the ultimate source of all the great global problems. Because Bank Secrecy makes it possible to hide an infinite of money. This allows AND stimulates global corruption at the highest level. At its turn this corruption then trickles down and allows all other (organized) crimes and makes it very hard to prosecute them. As long as Bank Secrecy and its subsequent global corruption exist, true democracy simply can’t. (for people who complain about democracy, you can’t really valuate it unless Bank Secrecy disappears and all global corruption with it)

Abolish Bank $ecrecy – ABS

Bank Secrecy allows individual people and organisations to have bank accounts that cannot be reviewed or controlled by authorities or anybody else. Basically it allows them to hide money from the rest of the world. The only publicly known cases of using secret bank accounts and black money are criminal uses that range from political corruption and other organized crime to tax evasion.

The best known recent cases are SwissLeaks, LuxLeaks, and  Panama Papers. However, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) expose more than 30 cases worldwide.
Tax Justice Network maintains an updated list of the countries in the world with the highest bank secrecy levels. Against common believe the most secretive country is not Switzerland, but England with it’s (ex)colonies and their headquarters in the City of London.

England’s colonies and Bank Secrecy go hand in hand

The spider’s web: Britain’s second empire.

More info in the references.

Bank Secrecy (and tax havens) and the Corona Crisis

Crumbling economies must tackle tax evasion to meet coronavirus crisis, experts warn - ICIJ

With governments racked by colossal costs due to the coronavirus pandemic, experts say tax evasion is cast in a stark new light.

If you want a bailout in Europe, don’t use tax havens

Skeptics say measures don’t do enough to combat fiscal paradises within the EU.

Eni, il risiko offshore e il condono fiscale dall’Olanda “cattiva” - Il Fatto Quotidiano

Potere - Il gruppo ha 10 filiali in Paesi che l’Italia considera paradisi fiscali, ma ci sono anche 50 succursali tra Amsterdam e Dublino

Bank Secrecy => Global Corruption

Global corruption opens the door to organized crime and its many kinds of illegal trafficking, from weapons to drugs and people or animals. Corruption also plays a role in the destruction of nature (Ecocide – one of the main causes of both climate breakdown and the extinction of species), for instance illegal logging, wildlife trade or bushfires.

A quarter of global wealth is hidden by bank secrecy

Up to 32.000.000.000.000 $ (trillion), roughly a quarter of all global wealth, could be hidden on secret bank accounts in 2010 according to the Tax Justice Network. This is more than enough to end all poverty in the world, to solve the so-called global financial ‘crisis’ and to finance instantly all radical changes that are needed to fight the climate breakdown that the world is already undergoing. Political unwillingness to act for real, not just in words, is the only reason this situation still exists and getting worse. The use of secret bank accounts would have grown exponantionally over the last decade, this could mean that a quarter of global wealth is hidden by Bank Secrecy.

Prosecuted or killed for exposing bank secrecy

The few people who do try to shed light on these matters are being prosecuted, like Hervé Falciani, or even killed. Daphne Caruana Galizi was a journalist who has been brutally murdered by a car bomb in october 2017. She investigating political corruption in connection with money laundring, mafia and trafficking of drugs and oil in Malta, former English colony and tax haven. In fact, Most investigative journalists all over the world who collaborate with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) do their work anonymously to avoid running the same risk.

More References

Apple dodges $15b tax bill in EU court appeal - ICIJ

Europe’s second-highest court has overturned a ruling by the European Commission in a major blow for attempts to crack down on tax corporate tax avoidance.

Climate justice and economic justice are the same fight

In part two of our Tax Justice Focus edition on financing the climate transition, we explore the links between economic justice and climate justice, and argue that the two struggles are inseparable.

Watershed data indicates more than a trillion dollars of corporate profit smuggled into tax havens

UK, Switzerland, Luxembourg and the Netherlands – the “axis of tax avoidance” – are responsible for 72 per cent of global tax losses

Once again, the EU lets tax havens off the hook | Oxfam International

In today’s review of the European Union’s tax haven list, EU finance ministers have added Panama, the Cayman Islands and the Seychelles to the list. At the same time, they have let the Bahamas, Bermuda and the British Virgin Islands off the hook.

172 miljard euro stroomt vanuit België naar belastingparadijzen

De bedrijven in ons land hebben in het aanslagjaar 2019 voor 172,3 miljard euro aan betalingen naar de beruchtste belastingparadijzen gedaan. Dat blijkt donderdag uit cijfers die De Tijd heeft opgevraagd bij de fiscus.

Tax Havens: Britain’s Second Empire

The idea is that after the collapse of its formal Empire, Britain created a new, more hidden financial “empire” of tax havens [and, worse, bank secrecy territories] around the world, which handled increasing amounts of money from around the world.

Seven EU Countries Labeled ‘Tax Havens’ in Parliament Report - ICIJ

A European Parliament committee found that seven member states facilitate aggressive tax planning, and recommended an EU financial police force be set up. It concerns Belgium, Cyprus, Hungary, Ireland, Luxembourg, Malta and the Netherlands.

Malta, giornalista uccisa da autobomba: indagò sulla corruzione del governo. Il suo ultimo post mezz’ora prima di morire:

Daphne Caruana Galizia aveva raccontato le implicazioni sull’isola dei Panama Papers. Aveva denunciato di avere ricevuto minacce di morte. Il premier Muscat: “Nessuno può giustificare questo atto barbaro”

New claims emerge about Daphne Caruana Galizia murder plan

Confession claimed original plan was to shoot Maltese journalist, Reuters reports

Malta prime minister to stand down amid scandal over journalist’s murder

Party leader bows to months of pressure from protesters and opposition to quit after allowing ministers caught up in scandal to keep jobs

Malta’s PM Joseph Muscat quits in crisis over Daphne Caruana Galizia murder

Joseph Muscat says he will stay on until January but journalist’s family calls for his immediate departure

Euroleaks

On March 14, for the first time in history, Europeans will be able to take a front seat in the meetings where their future is decided: DiEM25’s #EuroLeaks will take YOU inside the secretive, powerful Eurogroup that has no standing in law, but where far-reaching decisions about all our lives are made…

Observations (NL)

De media moesten eens leren goed en duidelijk onderscheid te maken tussen ‘simpele’ Belasting Paradijzen (zoals trots op de eerste plaats ons lieve Nederland) en het BANKGEHEIM.

In Europese belastingparadijzen Nederland, Ierland, Luxemburg en ook wel België gaat het om legaal geld, meestal van de multinationals, maar wat goed te traceren blijft.
Het “enige” wat ze doen is belasting ontduiken (zij het grootschalig). Het is zelfs legaal bij de (door henzelf gecorrumpeerde) wet of in het ergste geval een “grijs gebied”.

BANKGEHEIM is een heel ander verhaal.
Dat is echt zwart geld wat UIT de maatschappij gesmokkeld wordt en niet meer te traceren is. Dit geld vindt zijn oorsprong én financiert weer ALLE grootschalige corruptie en andere georganiseerde misdaad op wereldschaal en is daarmee ook de bron van al het kwaad:
– beginnen bij wapenhandel en oorlog
– alle drugshandel
– handel in mensen (vluchtelingen)
– handel in vrouwen (sex, prostitutie)
– handel in kinderen
– handel in dieren (jacht op uitstervende soorten, pillen voor chinezen)
– handel in door slavernij gewonnen grondstoffen en edelmaterialen (diamant, maar ook coltan voor JOUW mobiele telefoon)
– alles wat met gokken te maken heeft (Las Vegas, Trump, Monaco, websites…)
– ontbossing (illegaal verbranden of kappen van bomen)
– illegale dump (vervuiling van zee, land en lucht)

De schattingen zijn dat dit zwarte geld een kwart of een derde van het totale wereldkapitaal verbergt. Mij zou het niks verbazen als het zelfs de helft is.

Vroeger was BANKGEHEIM een monopolie van Zwitserland (tweede wereldoorlog). Later is die rol steeds meer overgenomen door die kleine, exotische eilandjes zoals Virgen Islands, Cayman Islands en nog een hele lijst. Tot niet zo lang geleden hoorden in dit rijtje ook: Gibraltar, Malta en Cyprus, maar ook Singapore en Hong Kong.

En guess what? Allemaal Engelse koloniën!!
In fact “the city of London” wordt beschouwd als het wereldwijde neuralgisch centrum van zwart geld en BANKGEHEIM.

Daarom is het ook goed dat Europa van Engeland af is, dan wordt hun invloed op dat gebied alvast wat minder. En nog beter als straks Schotland onafhankelijk wordt van die zogenaamde “United” Kingdom. Niks united! Gewoon Engeland en haar kolonies.
Alle andere benamingen zijn niet anders dan Politiek “Correcte” termen, maw, pure hypocresie.

BANKGEHEIM is DE uiteindelijke oorsprong van zowel de afbraak van de natuur als van de maatschappij over de hele wereld. Dit is absoluut het grootste probleem op wereldschaal.

View 2020 results

Click on a jurisdiction’s name to see the main report; and on its FSI value to access full database content. Click here to see a comparison with the results of the Financial Secrecy 2018.

172 miljard euro stroomt vanuit België naar belastingparadijzen

De bedrijven in ons land hebben in het aanslagjaar 2019 voor 172,3 miljard euro aan betalingen naar de beruchtste belastingparadijzen gedaan. Dat blijkt donderdag uit cijfers die De Tijd heeft opgevraagd bij de fiscus.

Related links

(still to be organized)

• Luxembourg, Cyprus, BVI, Seychelles fail tax transparency rules – OECD
  Reuters – Fri Nov 22, 2013
• Financial Secrecy Index 2013
  “…the United Kingdom with its satellite secrecy jurisdictions would be ranked first in the FSI by a large margin with a FSI score of 2162 or 3170, respectively (compared to 1765 for Switzerland). Note that this list excludes many British Commonwealth Realms where the Queen remains their head of state.”
  In other words, the UK essentially “Unites” Tax Havens, time for Scotland to create the first breach!
• Bank secrecy masks a world of crime and destruction
• Black money whitening encourages corruption: NHRC
• Wealth doesn’t trickle down, it just flows offshore
• How Swiss Bank Accounts Work (some history on bank secrecy)
• Nederland is een topplek voor belastingontwijking (NL)
• http://www.endtaxhavensecrecy.org/
• Trillion Dollar Tax Havens, Inequality and Recession
  http://therealnews.com/t2/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=33&I…
• Bank of Cyprus haircut could reach 60%
• Bank of Cyprus big depositors could lose up to 60%
  Bank of Cyprus depositors with more than 100,000 euros (£84,300; $128,200) could lose up to 60% of their savings as part of an EU-IMF bailout restructuring move, officials say.
• Cash-starved Cyprus no more tax haven
  Finally Cypriots could get into their banks, after two weeks of locked doors. When they reopened, in spite of anger over feelings that their accounts had been held hostage, people were generally calm, Russian television reported on the period of closure.
• Shell en ABN Amro hebben meeste postbusfirma’s in belastingvrije landen
  Grote Nederlandse multinationals maken massaal gebruik van brievenbusfirma’s in belastingparadijzen als Bermuda, de Bahama’s  en de Kaaimaneilanden. De ondernemingen hebben in totaal 237 dochterbedrijven gevestigd in één van de negen belastingvrije landen ter wereld. Shell en ABN Amro hebben veruit de meeste postbusfirma’s.
• Global super-rich has between $21 and $32 trillion hidden in secret tax havens (Tax Justice Network – 2010)
• Wealth doesn’t trickle down, it just flows offshore (the Guardian – 2012)
• Tax havens hold $7.6 trillion; 8% of world’s total wealth (BoingBoing 1/1/2016)
• How ISDS threatens tax justice

More:

• Book: Treasure Islands – Nicholas Shaxon
• HSBC whistleblower Falciani says his work is not done: El Mundo
• Whistleblower? Thief? Hero? Introducing the Source of the Data that Shook HSBC (ICIJ)
• Swiss Leaks
• Wealth doesn’t trickle down, it just flows offshore
• G8 summit and tax evasion: what’s really been achieved? –
  The Guardian 2013/06/18
  Progress at the summit itself was virtually non-existent, with certain G8 countries – like the US – putting up strong resistance to change. A declaration of G8 principles was a windy document that committed the west’s leading industrial nations to do little specific. The G8 Action Plan was similarly weak. The G8 said information on the beneficial ownership of companies could be achieved through central registries. Plenty of wriggle room, there.
• G8 deal on tax havens a long way off – The Guardian 2013/06/16
  Western leaders are unlikely to deliver anything comprehensive now – but the fact they are discussing the issue is progress.
  It is possible that the G8 will agree a deal on tax havens that will be comprehensive, public and provide rich and poor countries alike with access to the same hitherto highly secret information. But not this year.
• Francois Hollande call to eradicate tax havens – BBC + video
• Abolish every tax haven in the world – Daily Mail
• Cash-starved Cyprus no more tax haven – EuroNews.com
  Finally Cypriots could get into their banks, after two weeks of locked doors. When they reopened, in spite of anger over feelings that their accounts had been held hostage, people were generally calm, Russian television reported on the period of closure.  (with video)
• As Banks in Cyprus Falter, Other Tax Havens Step In
• EU’s six largest members agree to fight tax havens – Reuters 2013/04/12
  Germany, France, Poland, Italy, Spain, Britain to tackle evasion
  France’s Moscovici says bank secrecy outdated
  Austria rejects bank data exchange as offence to privacy rights
• Austria slams U.S., UK “tax havens” as EU turns up heat – – Reuters 2013/04/11
  Under fire for its banking secrecy, Austria hit back at Britain and the United States on Thursday, urging them to crack down on money laundering and tax havens in their own backyards, as EU ministers prepared to debate the issue in Dublin.
• Major EU countries to tackle tax havens
• EU Comissioner: Time to Move ‘Quicker and Harder’ Against Tax Evasion
• British offshore banking under fire in EU tax haven battle
• Hollande pide la erradicación de los paraísos fiscales – El Pais
• Dealing with Taxh Haven & Tax Fraud
  For those who do not know what tax havens are, it may come as a surprise that they are considered an important solution in creating a just economy.  The sad reality is that this little known industry is one of the greatest enablers  for allowing corrupt individuals to hide money from the global public.  By their very design, they are created for deception and allow stolen money to remain hidden. Their secrecy is for no other purpose than to hide illicit money stolen from and creating the poor of the world.
• UK Tax Avoidance: Hypocritical Consumers Still Drinking at Starbucks and Shopping on Amazon
• How Tax Havens Plunder the Poor
  Tax havens have recently become big news, as well as big business. But amidst all the scandals of ministerial Swiss bank accounts and celebrity tax avoiders, there has been much less discussion of the impact of tax havens on the poorest countries in the world.
  The public did not really know the facts until recently. The rich and powerful kept the public distracted when stock markets were rising and budgets were full. Yet the tax haven system was eating away at the roots of the world economy, making it increasingly easier for wealthy individuals, corrupt businesses, money launderers, political parties, and of course the ever-more-powerful banks, hedge funds, and multinational companies to protect their profits from taxation.

Something going the right way?

• Switzerland unveils draft laws to dismantle bank secrecy
  Financial Times January 14, 2015 6:15 pm