Companies

Spanish employment company “Terra Fecundis” involved in social fraud

Spanish employment company “Terra Fecundis” involved in a social fraud in France reports LeMonde.fr 

A big social fraud case in France concerning a Spanish temporary work company: Terra Fecundis, with headquarter in Murcia, is on trial at this point in Marseille court, France.

Defendants are accused of having providing for several years, thousands of workers – mainly from Latin America – without having declared them in accordance with the law requirements and by ignoring various obligations relating to minimum wages, overtime , paid holidays, etc. The damage would be heavy for the employed women and men, but also for the French Social Security, not paying  the contributions which, according to the accusation amounts to more than 112 million euros between early 2012 and end of 2015.

More on:
https://www.lemonde.fr/societe/article/2020/04/06/une-affaire-hors-norme-de-fraude-sociale-bientot-devant-la-justice_6035702_3224.html

 

Panama papers – Offshore leaks of the wealthiest 1%

Offshore Trove Exposes Trump-Russia Links And Piggy Banks Of The Wealthiest 1 Percent

Offshore Trove Exposes Trump-Russia links and Piggy Banks of the Wealthiest 1 Percent

A trove of 13.4 million records exposes ties between Russia and U.S. President Donald Trump’s billionaire commerce secretary, the secret dealings of the chief fundraiser for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the offshore interests of the queen of England and more than 120 politicians around the world.

The leaked documents, dubbed the Paradise Papers, show how deeply the offshore financial system is entangled with the overlapping worlds of political players, private wealth and corporate giants, including Apple, Nike, Uber and other global companies that avoid taxes through increasingly imaginative bookkeeping maneuvers.

One offshore web leads to Trump’s commerce secretary, private equity tycoon Wilbur Ross, who has a stake in a shipping company that has received more than $68 million in revenue since 2014 from a Russian energy company co-owned by the son-in-law of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

The new files come from two offshore services firms as well as from 19 corporate registries maintained by governments in jurisdictions that serve as waystations in the global shadow economy. The leaks were obtained by German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and a network of more than 380 journalists in 67 countries.

The promise of tax havens is secrecy – offshore locales create and oversee companies that often are difficult, or impossible, to trace back to their owners. While having an offshore entity is often legal, the built-in secrecy attracts money launderers, drug traffickers, kleptocrats and others who want to operate in the shadows. Offshore companies, often “shells” with no employees or office space, are also used in complex tax-avoidance structures that drain billions from national treasuries.

The offshore industry makes “the poor poorer” and is “deepening wealth inequality,” said Brooke Harrington, a certified wealth manager and Copenhagen Business School professor who is the author of ‘Capital without Borders: Wealth Managers and the One Percent.’

“There is this small group of people who are not equally subject to the laws as the rest of us, and that’s on purpose,” Harrington said. These people “live the dream” of enjoying “the benefits of society without being subject to any of its constraints.”

Offshore leaks database: https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/
If you check if there is local Romania / Moldova guys involved too in leaks, of course they are. Just some of them:
– Alexandru Sîrbu / John Maxemchuk and Sun Communications: https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/nodes/10101340
https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/nodes/10101689
– Ion Sturza: https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/nodes/12096662
– Anatolie Stati: https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/nodes/12102317
– OMV Petrom S.A.: https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/nodes/12139794
– Sorin Ovidiu Vintu: https://offshoreleaks.icij.org/nodes/28909

Moneygram admited Anti-Money Laundering violations …

United States Department of Justice on November 9, 2012
Moneygram International Inc. Admits Anti-Money Laundering and Wire Fraud Violations, Forfeits $100 Million in Deferred Prosecution

MoneyGram International Inc. – a global money services business headquartered in Dallas – has agreed to forfeit $100 million and enter into a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA) with the Justice Department in which it admits to criminally aiding and abetting wire fraud and failing to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program, as charged in an information filed today in the Middle District of Pennsylvania.

According to court documents, MoneyGram was involved in mass marketing and consumer fraud phishing schemes, perpetrated by corrupt MoneyGram agents and others, that defrauded tens of thousands of victims in the United States.  MoneyGram also failed to maintain an effective anti-money laundering program in violation of the Bank Secrecy Act.  The Justice Department will return the forfeited funds to the victims of the fraud scheme through its Victim Asset Recovery Program.

“MoneyGram’s broken corporate culture led the company to privilege profits over everything else,” said Assistant Attorney General Breuer.  “MoneyGram knowingly turned a blind eye to scam artists and money launderers who used the company to perpetrate fraudulent schemes targeting the elderly and other vulnerable victims.  In addition to forfeiting $100 million, which will be used to compensate victims, MoneyGram must for the next five years retain a corporate monitor who will report regularly to the Justice Department.”

(more…)

Documentar: The tax free tour

Documentar: The tax free tour

“Where do multinationals pay taxes and how much?”

A financial world operates in the shadows surrounded by a high level of secrecy. A place where sizeable capital streams travel the world at the speed of light and avoid paying tax. The Tax Free Tour is an economic thriller mapping the systemic risk for governments and citizens alike. Is this the price we have to pay for globalised capitalism?

Cum statul Marea Britanie se asigură că fiecare își plătește taxele

UK Public Accounts Committee Hearing on taxation of multinational corporations

or Why multinationals do not pay corporation taxes?! Are they immoral?

Recording – UK Public Accounts Committee Hearing (12/11/2012) on Taxation of Multinational Corporations, witnesses:
Matt Brittin (CEO, Google UK),
Troy Alstead (Global CFO, Starbucks),
Andrew Cecil (Director Public Policy, Amazon).

http://parliamentlive.tv/event/index/ab52a9cd-9d51-49a3-ba3d-e127a3af018c

http://videoplayback.parliamentlive.tv/Player/Index/ab52a9cd-9d51-49a3-ba3d-e127a3af018c?audioOnly=False&autoStart=False&statsEnabled=False