Panama Papers

[Peter Lemkin]

Of the 11 million files in this 'data dump' an amazing 250,000 are about Czech million and billionaires! [although there are NOT that many of them...so several documents must be about any one person. CZE has only 11 million people, but it is well-known that the rich here never pay any tax at all, and most of them live entirely out of the country and have others handle their properties and interests here. Sadly, corruption is accepted as normal here and something that permeates much of society. Even the Corruption Police have been often arrested for corruption.

[Magda Hassan]

I'm looking at it is a competitor for Wikileaks. Here ya' are. Wikileaks nails it.

.....The reason I raised that flag about who leaked these documents was because I discovered that there are 4 states in the US that already act as de facto offshore states where the US wealthy can stash their money out of sight and away from the taxman. And then when I saw that map with only two small red dots in the US of those nations with Panama Papers names on them, it seemed pretty obvious that the US was behind the dump (probably the NSA, I would think).

And wouldn't it be good if the rest of the world's offshore tax havens got eradicated but the US's 4 states remain in situ. Thus forcing the world's tax-evading wealthy to pour all their ill gotten wealth into the US in the future which would, I suppose? ensure that the US foreign debt was supported in perpetuity and allow the US to retain the dollar as a reserve currency. Because that's where the future battle between the US, Russia and China is set: it's the reserve currency war to end all currency wars.

I have seen this too. The US already has these internal tax havens. This would work very well for the US. I have also seen talk of a future drop of US specific dodgers from some journo types. But until we actually see it it is just speculation. And I hardly trust the MSM any more than I would trust a government. All these ambitious hacks in a dying media hoping to make a name for themselves as investigative journalist with insider natsec go to credentials. Remember also that Mossack Fonesca is just one operation of this sort. There are many more out there like it. I'd like to see all the data from all of them. In searchable form.

[Lauren Johnson]

So, in other words, it's about making sure all the stash houses are under the control of The Empire.

The message:

"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."

[David Guyatt]

So, in other words, it's about making sure all the stash houses are under the control of The Empire.

The message:

"We are the Borg. Lower your shields and surrender your ships. We will add your biological and technological distinctiveness to our own. Your culture will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile."

Uughh. What a terrible thought. A thousand year American reich.

[Magda Hassan]

Who benefits from the Panama Papers Leak?

Apr 3, 2016

• 4,758 views
  
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• [URL="https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/giant-leak-offshore-financial-records-exposes-global-array-john-m-?trk=pulse_spock-articles#comments-7636289686815083291"]
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We are all aware of the ways to avoid taxes, commit fraud, launder money, hide assets and be anonymous players in the global financial system. Nothing new. We are all aware of FOREX rigging, commodity price rigging, equity / bond market rigging, and currency value rigging that goes on daily in the same global financial system. Nothing new.
Yet, it seems that when we see recent "leaks" such as:

1. The IMF needing "an event" to leverage Germany into taking a haircut on Greek debt;
   
2. The hubris of the Hillary Clinton campaign funding. The Clinton Foundation's tax re-filings, tainted donations, diplomatic favors, curious State department approvals (Clinton business as usual), and
   
3. The Rich and Famous Financial Asset Obfuscation Network exposed.
   

...we are shocked and dismayed by the covert and overt corruption in the global financial system.

Sorry folks. Believe it.

The global financial system is horribly corrupt.

What I find even more curious is the lack of U.S., British, European and Israeli exposure in these recent Panama Paper "leaks." Right?
Surely, we are to believe the western epicenters of the global financial system are pristine examples of integrity, moral certitude and beyond reproach? Right?
Surely, we are to believe the ICIJ (The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists) is 100% independent, non-partisan, and unbiased? Right?
The ICIJ is funded by the Adessium Foundation, Open Society Foundations, The Sigrid Rausing Trust, the Fritt Ord Foundation, the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, The Ford Foundation, The David and Lucile Packard Foundation, Pew Charitable Trusts and Waterloo Foundation.

• Adessium (partly funded by George Soros)
  

• Open Society Foundations (George Soros foundations, a top contributor to Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, and guilty of a sordid past)
  

• Sigrid Rausing Trust (based in the U.K.)
  
• Fritt Ord Foundation (based in Norway)
  
• Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting (based in the U.S.)
  
• The Ford Foundation (Based in the U.S. and a key funder of Israeli NGOs)
  
• David and Lucile Packard Foundation (based in the U.S.)
  
• Pew Charitable Trusts (based in the U.S.)
  
• Waterloo Foundation (based in the U.K. (Wales))
  
• The "Panama Papers" were also supported (funded) by USAID, the United States Government agency which is primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid.
  
• USAID estimated its budget for "media strengthening programs in over 30 countries" at $40 million annually, including aiding "independent media organizations and bloggers in over a dozen countries," In Ukraine before the coup, USAID offered training in "mobile phone and website security," which sounds a bit like an operation to thwart the local government's intelligence gathering, an ironic position for the U.S. with its surveillance obsession, including prosecuting whistleblowers based on evidence that they talked to journalists.
  
  
• USAID, working with billionaire George Soros's Open Society, also funds the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, which engages in "investigative journalism" that usually goes after governments that have fallen into disfavor with the United States and then are singled out for accusations of corruption. The USAID-funded OCCRP also collaborates with Bellingcat, an online investigative website founded by blogger Eliot Higgins.
  

More interesting facts and more questions:

• The convenient timing of a data "leak" is meant to maximize the damage. Why now?
  
• The data dump consisted of 2.6 terabytes of data, 11.5 millions documents, and 214,000 shell companies. Who would have the access and technical ability to isolate and remove the largest data leak in history?
  
• The primary targets: Vladimir Putin, Bashar Al-Assad, Iceland's Prime Minister Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson, the Argentine leader Mauricio Macri, the King of Saudi Arabia, and a sister of the former King of Spain. Why them?
  
• Another target is the Russian Sberbank, whose U.S. investment banking branch recently enlisted the services of the Podesta Group. According to its lobbying registration form, the firm will work on banking, trade, and foreign relations issues. One of the three lobbyists working on the account is Tony Podesta, a bundler for the Clinton campaign and the brother of campaign chairman John Podesta, who co-founded the firm.
  
  
• Mossack Fonseca had at least 441 US clients, 3,072 US companies, 211 US beneficiaries and 3,467 U.S.-based shareholders. Who are they?
  

The timing, data volume, the targets and missing US names begs the final question.

Cui Bono?
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/giant-lea...k-articles

[Magda Hassan]

The media is leaving out significant home truths' from its Panama Papers report

April 4th, 2016 Elizabeth Mizon News and Politics

It's undeniable that the Panama Papers the world's biggest ever data leak at more than 2TB worth of documents has enhanced our knowledge of the extent of global corruption. But considering the rampant use of offshore tax havens by Western multinational companies and individuals, there is a critical gap in the revelations.
Where are the British and American names?
First past the post
There is one significant UK name on everyone's lips. British mainstream outlets such as the Mirror and the Telegraph have run the story that our Prime Minister's father Ian Cameron used offshore' to protect his wealth from due and fair taxation. The Canary was one of the first to report it on the morning of April 4th. Later in the day, The Guardian ran the story as a headline.
This is a huge blow to the Prime Minister, having openly denounced tax avoidance as morally wrong' and promised a clampdown. He is also planning an offshore summit' in May to further tackle a practice that has played a part in securing his own fortune.
When asked for comment, Downing Street said that the PM's family finances are a "private matter". But other than a few other elderly Tories, no further British names have been mentioned. And zero American names appear in the reports. Yet, the statistics say that vast numbers of Westerners are implicated.
A picture says a thousand words
It's by no means conspiratorial of the ICIJ not to foreground the US or UK. Indeed their previous Luxembourg Leaks' singled out some of the biggest US offenders in the European tax haven. However, unless there is a significant occidental' turnaround of the information this time, the public's attention is being significantly skewed to ignore our power players'.
However, the ICIJ's graphical data shows British and US firms topping the lists of those involved in using this particular company to avoid tax. In numbers of intermediaries go-betweens brokering deals between home companies and offshore providers the UK is the third most active. The UK and the US are second and fourth respectively in a list of countries where intermediaries operate.
The most high-profile names of the initial reports, such as Russian President Putin and Syrian President Assad, are from countries far further down those lists.
It's true that they are public figures, and demonstrate the heights at which money is concentrated in their respective countries. But given the graph data, and what we know of the wealth disparities in Britain and the US, it could easily be argued that the endemic spread of corruption and maintenance of financial inequality is far more significant in our own backyard'.
Focusing on particularly visible world leaders also overshadows the corporate leaders operating behind the curtain', and often with just as much, if not more, power.
Süddeutsche Zeitung, the German paper who were first to be contacted by the anonymous whistleblower, explains that the structure of the investigation by journalists used search terms and pre-compiled lists of names that foregrounded countries already hit with UN sanctions, or political leaders involved in party donations scandals, for example. The CPI and ICIJ, funded by a number of highly influential foundations, are based in the US.
Already, it's being asked whether or not this easterly slant foregrounding Putin, Middle Eastern countries and other enemies of the West is influenced by the positioning and/or funding of the ICIJ, and whether the Western media are protecting their own.
US-Panamanian Pandemonium
All considered however, US companies and individuals will be escaping illumination largely due to the country's political history, rather than a lack of involvement in offshore tactics.
The US has had a tax-information exchange agreement' since 2010, and volatile political relations since its conflict over ownership of the Panama Canal in 1977 coincidentally, the same year as Mossack Fonseca, the law firm in question, was formed. As political commentator Eoin Higgins points out:

Americans do not feel comfortable storing their ill-gotten gains in the Central American country […] Storing cash, data, and legal information in a country that could easily become the target of a US intervention was not a prudent move.

He goes on to point out that, of course:

It's equally possible that Americans are using one or more of the other three top firms involved in this kind of work.
If Americans are not named or implicated in this leak, it will have more to do with the uniqueness of the US- Panamanian relationship and less to do with the morality- real or perceived- of the US and its power brokers.

Systemic focus
The revelation of corruption within other countries must not obscure the endemic corruption of London and New York, arguably the global heart of finance, for the Western media. We need them to hold our entire system of power political and corporate to account if we are ever to achieve lasting change in our divided society.
The revolving doors of power are constantly illustrated in our own leadership, proven again by our Prime Minister's being complicit in something he claims to be tackling. This is cold hard evidence of the legal' way inequality persists and power is ringfenced. More information will come, but if not quickly it may well have far less of an impact once the public have moved on' to more current affairs.
Companies hiding their wealth via companies other than Mossack Fonseca shouldn't be allowed to remain hidden. We must focus on our economic and financial systems, rather than individuals. The bad apple' rhetoric is getting old.
Get involved!
Watch this video from the ICIJ.
Have a look at the ICIJ's documents here.
Write to your MP about tackling offshore tax havens.
Support The Canary so we can keep holding the rich and powerful to account.
http://www.thecanary.co/2016/04/04/media...rs-report/

[Magda Hassan]

I keep asking myself about Noriega's role in all this. Being forcibly removed to make way for it.

[Lauren Johnson]

I keep asking myself about Noriega's role in all this. Being forcibly removed to make way for it.

The global economy is increasingly like the jostling amongst mafia dons. Noriega "got greedy" and was getting in the way. There used to be the practice of letting "useless leaders" go into exile. Now the message is, join us or die.

[Lauren Johnson]

"Panama is largely a creation of the U.S."

[R.K. Locke]

Remember this story?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-...s-old.html