Earlier quoted context omitted.
Go on BILD, Die Welt and Der Spiegel and read articles in German. I'm semi-fluent in German (studied it for 5 years and lived there for a year) and from my experience everything I said is true. I've added some references.
It is not true. Dr. Ulfkotte is a known fake journalist: http://www.dialoginternational.com/dialog_international/2015...
Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens
81–90 of 452 posts
Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens
#82Selected quote: "The ICIJ findings include evidence that: - Offshore companies linked to the family of China's top leader, Xi Jinping, as well as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who has positioned himself as a reformer in a country shaken by corruption scandals - 29 billionaires featured in Forbes Magazine's list of the world's 500 richest people - Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson and his w…
For what it's worth, being featured in these documents is not in and of itself evidence of any wrongdoing. There are entirely lawful and legitimate reasons for making use of offshore company structures.
Yeah, hiding a conflict of interest might be illegal, but "tax planning" is by definition legal.
Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens
#83Earlier quoted context omitted.
Both the British and (especially) German [0] media are virulently anti-Russian. They blame Russians for all of their ills. Societal problems? Blame Russians. Anything that happens in their countries, they manage to find an angle to blame it on Russians somehow. Norway [1] & Sweden are also under a constant paranoia that Russians are just days away from invading them. But nothing compares to German media when it comes…
Being Russian citizen I find this critical position actually pro-Russian. It's in our interest to have a professional government and a president elected on transparent and free elections, to fight corruption and to work for the prosperity of our Homeland and for happiness of all our people. The government, the president, the courts and the deputees of parliament that do not satisfy these criteria can and shall be cri…
> In fact, we are proud that there's so much interest to the Russian politics, that we are treated as important part of the world and that we do matter.
The only reason Russia "matters" is that it's non-compliant to the Western interests. The only kind of "freely-elected" government that the West would approve of is one that would bend to its wishes. Take a look at Ukraine to see what happens to elected governments that don't.
Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens
#84Hilarious that BBC, a broadcaster paid for by British tax payers, has a subheading in that article titled "Russian connection" describing various dealings of Russian characters who are "close associates" of Putin and an equally sordid "Iceland connection" but not even a mention of David Cameron's father's tax evading schemes listed in the documents which the people of Great Britain should be vastly more interested in…
Not surprised. Last I heard, the Government was floating the idea of turning editorial control of the BBC over to a board of their own appointees: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/mar/14/the-gua...
Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens
#85Earlier quoted context omitted.
Which is why it's good that this massive pile of data is analyzed by a huge load of international newspapers. This way, papers can selectively publish stuff that won't put themselves in too grave danger - just look what happened to The Guardian with the Snowden leak (visits from three-letter agency officials) or what happens in Turkey, Ukraine or Hungary with media that dares to publish stuff too offensive to the res…
I mean sure journalists and meme-makers will spin this however it suits them, but I thought here in the west we're assured that we have freedom of press. This type of obvious slant certainly doesn't make it seem that way.
> I thought here in the west we're assured that we have freedom of press.
Freedom of press does not guarantee freedom from persecution (or prosecution), so the international consortium approach is a much better guarantee for all the information actually getting out.
Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens
#86Selected quote: "The ICIJ findings include evidence that: - Offshore companies linked to the family of China's top leader, Xi Jinping, as well as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who has positioned himself as a reformer in a country shaken by corruption scandals - 29 billionaires featured in Forbes Magazine's list of the world's 500 richest people - Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson and his w…
>Icelandic Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson and his wife secretly owned an offshore firm that held millions of dollars in Icelandic bank bonds during the country's financial crisis
Also, a quarter of Iceland's cabinet apparently holds offshore companies.
Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
The heads up was given a long time ago, you won't find their names in the leak, it's kinda funny Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson is being outed, I guess he didn't get the memo on account of his recent actions.
The leak is of historical documents dating back decades, not a snapshot of current setups. So I don't see why that'd affect anything. I really doubt this is some sort of official leak though. Governments hate leaks of all kinds.
>Governments hate leaks of all kinds.
Not in the UK. Leaks and "off the record briefings" are practically official government policy.
To me this looks like a rather stupid attempt to promote regime change in Russia. Putin was weakened by the low oil price, and now this has all the signs of a bizarre poli-sci undergraduate plot to push him over the edge.
I'll change my mind if a list of significant British and US pols with Panamanian accounts appears - because any suggestion that there aren't any is frankly risible.
Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens
#88FYI, for those looking for more data, stay tuned: > ICIJ media partners been allowed to select profiles they believe are of interest to their audiences which may result in similar interactives with fewer profiles. The information in the interactive is current as of April 3, 2016 and the offshore data up to December 2015. ICIJ will release the full list of companies and people in the Panama Paper files in early May. F…
Some of the data is available here[0] For those of you who are wondering. ICIJ is funded by the CPI, one of the more "liberal" (e.g. if you consider the NYT 'liberal') think tanks. In my mind it's a very respectable institution, but check out their supporters[1] to see what sort of 'slant' they might have. Maybe read their take on the Citizens United decision[2] too. [0] http://offshoreleaks.icij.org/about/download N…
They seem to be funded by Microsoft among others, so certainly evil beyond imagination.
Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens
#89Hilarious that BBC, a broadcaster paid for by British tax payers, has a subheading in that article titled "Russian connection" describing various dealings of Russian characters who are "close associates" of Putin and an equally sordid "Iceland connection" but not even a mention of David Cameron's father's tax evading schemes listed in the documents which the people of Great Britain should be vastly more interested in…
> Not to mention direct implications of various other western puppets (Saudi King, Ukrainian PM, Iraqi former PM) and other dubious "connections".
I don't know about Ukraine, but the Middle East would likely be quite different if both the Saudi ruler and al-Maliki were "Western puppers".
Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens
#90Hilarious that BBC, a broadcaster paid for by British tax payers, has a subheading in that article titled "Russian connection" describing various dealings of Russian characters who are "close associates" of Putin and an equally sordid "Iceland connection" but not even a mention of David Cameron's father's tax evading schemes listed in the documents which the people of Great Britain should be vastly more interested in…
Maybe, but "father of a PM" is not even close to the same thing as "PM". If Cameron's father has done something wrong, that doesn't (shouldn't) affect perceptions of his son. The days of punishing children for the crimes of their parents are long in the past. Assuming the guy did anything wrong, of course. As these articles note, off shore companies are not illegal.
> Maybe, but "father of a PM" is not even close to the same thing as "PM". If Cameron's father has done something wrong, that doesn't (shouldn't) affect perceptions of his son. The days of punishing children for the crimes of their parents are long in the past.
That's still in the public's interest to know about this kind of thing, assuming it is actually illegal.