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Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens

bbc.com

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Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens

#111

Post by kuschku »

zzleeper wrote: post #79
jacobwcarlson wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The press wants their own piece after they lost the previous major leaks completely. The information is being released by 100 different news organizations in 100 different countries. It has nothing to do with protecting their jobs from "Internet sleuths", it's having professional journalistic standards.

What pisses me off is that after they are done going through the data, they often still don't release the files. There is a reason why publicly available information is useful (think about historians for instance), and by locking it for these only 100 orgs (which will then forget about it in half a year when the scandal is done) you lose on the opportunity to do future research, books, etc. on this

The newspaper leading in this investigation has been very open to research of such data it received in the past – not just opening the data, but also funding it.

Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens

#112

Post by elemenopy »

wyck wrote: post #21

Panama just passed compliance with FATF (February 2016) and it's a message that their political leader/law firm owner/world's largest money launderer (his name is in the OP's title) is no longer open for business after decades of being the go-to place for hidden $$$. http://www.fatf-gafi.org/countries/#Panama "The FATF recognised that Algeria, Angola and Panama have made significant progress in improving their regime…

> Real leaks don't have fancy websites with responsive vectorized portraits and a full on content /social media structure.

I don't understand this. Don't newspapers always make stories that they can tell are important more engaging for the reader? Here's a cute Guardian flash interactive from Cablegate, [1] and another nice Washington Post interactive on the same story. [2] Here's a really fancy six-part interactive from the Guardian in the wake of the Snowden files. [3] Whenever the media publishes leaks they will make similar things, even when Western governments act strenuously to prevent publication, as in the case of Cablegate and Snowden.

How does a well-presented story indicate anything other than the media thought this was a story which was important and in the public interest?

1. http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2010/nov/28/us-... 2. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/nation/wikileak... 3. http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/nov/01/sno...

Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens

#113

Post by 75dvtwin »

usaphp wrote: post #30

> as well as Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, who has positioned himself as a reformer in a country shaken by corruption scandals I wonder how Ukrainians ,who fight for him and his "freedom" ideas, will react to this

I suspect, they will react in the same way, as Russians when learning their 'corruption fighting' Путин (Putin) [1] is involved through a proxy.

I suspect, the reaction will be: "If not [$enter-corrupt-leader-name], then who else should lead our nation? " or "Yes, [$enter-corrupt-leader-name], however we had much worse. And this is the least evil of all the other options"

In other words, the population in large in these places are simply brain-washed to be complacent.

I would also suggests, that the fan's of former secretary of UN Kofi Anan [2] -- will not react any differently

I would be interested, however to see, how far complacent the British had become. And, specifically, how far, the British media will go to mute the 'small imperfections' of leaders of 'so-called free world' and UN, vs the despicable money laundering 'by the others'.

[1] https://rbth.com/news/2016/04/01/putin-confirms-national-ant... [2] http://fusion.net/story/287227/famous-presidents-shell-compa...

Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens

#114

Post by darkr »

randomname2 wrote: post #24

Selected 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…

> British Prime Minister David Cameron, a leader in the push for tax-haven reform

There was a load of rhetoric in 2011 about offshore/tax reform, but very little in the way of action since then. As with tradition in Cameron's brand of "Compassionate Conservatism", it's a depressingly cynical slight of hand and nothing more.

Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens

#115

Post by tomp »

kuschku wrote: post #108
tomp wrote: post #72

> While much of the leaked material will remain private, there are compelling reasons for publishing some of the data. How convenient. > the papers simply reveal the vast number of people who use offshore to protect their wealth. There is nothing unlawful about doing this. It is not illegal to be a director, shareholder or beneficial owner – the real owner, even though their name may not appear on the shareholder reg…

On TV some of the journalists involved just said that they wouldn’t know "any western bank or government not involved in this". You should watch the TV debate, btw.

On which channel? BBC?

Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens

#116

Post by elemenopy »

wyck wrote: post #109
discreteevent wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Real leaks don't have fancy websites" How something looks. It really is the shallowest form of dismissal, since the days of the village gossips.

Your missing the point, it's clear they this leak is planned and not someone just uploading a bunch of files. People don't seem to understand what I mean by the above^. The question is would it not be better to dump the entire data set to the public, instead of it being funnelled by reporters?

> it's clear they this leak is planned

But you haven't produced any real evidence for this claim.

The ICIJ has co-ordinated the reporting on the leak, sure; but that's not the same as claiming the leak itself was in bad faith, part of some wider state-sponsored conspiracy from G20 nations, etc.

Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens

#117

Post by wukerplank »

wyck wrote: post #109
discreteevent wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Real leaks don't have fancy websites" How something looks. It really is the shallowest form of dismissal, since the days of the village gossips.

Your missing the point, it's clear they this leak is planned and not someone just uploading a bunch of files. People don't seem to understand what I mean by the above^. The question is would it not be better to dump the entire data set to the public, instead of it being funnelled by reporters?

Planned by whom? To what end? Do you have any information to substantiate this claim?

Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens

#118

Post by ivan_gammel »

usaphp wrote: post #92
ivan_gammel wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Do you really believe that western media care a single bit about free elections in Russia? The only reason they care about it is because The position of Russia government does not match the western narrative.

I did not say anything about my beliefs and it is not important WHY do they care about Russia. The only thing that is important, is the result - whether these critics are justified, whether they serve Russian interests or not. They do serve. If this was not someone's goal, shame on that guy, he failed. If it was, thanks to him, he did his job well.

Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens

#119

Post by Cyph0n »

mladenkovacevic wrote: post #29

Hilarious 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…

But when channels like Al Jazeera do the same thing with issues pertaining to Qatar, which is unethical of course, everyone has their pitchforks ready. I mean come on - everyone knows that BBC is a "neutral" news source.

Re: Panama Papers: Mossack Fonseca leak reveals elite's tax havens

#120

Post by snitko »

Kliment wrote: post #95
snitko wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Spending is only good if it is wise. If you tell a company "sorry, you have to spend it now" it is equivalent of telling you "sorry, I don't care if you don't like any house on the market now, you'll have to buy now, you can't wait". That's no freedom, but slavery. Only when you have a choice of hoarding vs spending, then you help the economy to truly grow by providing everyone with the best products and services. In…

Honestly? By evading taxes they are stealing from hundreds of millions of people.

That's your opinion. I think taxation is extortion. Who's to say I'm not entitled to my point of view?
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