Photo Damian Kelly
ACTION OF THE DAY
A MAJOR national bank has been forced to remove more than 100 misleading out of order signs from its ATMs after being targeted by anti-coal activists.
A MAJOR national bank has been forced to remove more than 100 misleading out of order signs from its ATMs after being targeted by anti-coal activists.
A score of ANZ Banking Group machines sprawled across six capital cities were plastered with "out of order" signs on Sunday after campaigners launched their latest bid to draw attention to the bank's funding of the coal industry.
Posts
JIGSAW PUZZLE BLUES.
ReplyDeleteLet's go back to the beginning,before this gas plant became news outside of Broome and the Kimberley.
Broome is famous for it's Broomers,made up stories,bulldust.
But any jigsaw puzzle nuts know some pieces fit and some don't.
So way back when stories were swirling around of bags and suitcases of money,bribery and corruption,the question was,OK this is how oil and gas companies do business,but,how are they going to hide the monies from the ATO,and for that matter,other greedy prying eyes?
The obvious answer - tax havens.
But where,and how?
Bribes are all part of doing business,but governments and companies like to look legit,as world bodies like to pay lip service to their integrity,honesty and love of the common man.
Of course it's all a front,but play by the rules and don't get caught - or else.
So this question was in the back of my mind for some time as I listened to different stories going around.
I became aware through conversations with certain people very close to Bergman that there was indeed something suspect going on.
Think about it,the Carpenter labour government,Julien Grills,Brian Burke,Sheila McHale,John Bowler,FMG,Woodside,The Burrup,Woodstock Abydos.
Carol Martin,KLC,Bergman,Tarran,Woodside,James Price Point.
And a picture starts to build.
So my ears pricked up a few years ago when I heard one of Bergmans KLC cronies discussing how she must visit Vanuatu as her familly was decended from the Kanaks.
My first thought was "Bingo",that's it,that sews up the mystery of "how and where."
So it was with some amusement that last week I saw none other than Carol Martin on a trip to Vanuatu to uncover links between Kimberley aboriginals and the Kanaks.
"Blackbirding."
The thing is,with JPP,the bribes have only just begun.The gas plant is only the first step.Once the fate of that site is settled then the "signing signing" begins for the land around the gas precinct.
This also answers the question of why not take the money and have the gas sent elsewhere?
If the gas goes elsewhere the magic millions will never eventuate.It all fits.
Yes,the vexed question of all those other bribes to be hidden away.All the big chemical,refining,explosive,petro chemical,etc.etc. - all the industries that were to go on the Burrup,but due to one reason and the other,did not go ahead.
It is also worth remembering that Barnett was also involved in the Burrup scandal as well as JPP.Labour has supported it all along,as has liberal.Just this week a labour pollie from down south was told "to stop sticking her nose into JPP."So rotten,they are all jumpy and scared the truth will out.
Vanuatu also answers another question that was going around,how will these sell outs live and raise their kids around here in all the poison smog.As Digby pointed out in his letter in this weeks local paper,just the extra jet fumes will be enough to kill us all.For those who don't know Broome,the airport is in the middle of town.
Simple - spend plenty of time in Vanuatu.
Maybe set up a business,build a house,lay back and lap it up.
More pieces of this puzzle will be revealed as time goes on,but you can bet,this is well on the money.
HOW IT WORKS - A BRIEF GUIDE TO TAX HAVENS.
ReplyDelete"John Christensen, formerly an adviser to the
government of the Channel Island of Jersey and now
director of the Tax Justice Network, was reported
in the media as stating that the failure of developed
countries like the UK, USA and Switzerland to clamp
down on offshore tax havens is responsible for more
hardship than any corrupt acts by developing world
leaders. “I would place the United Kingdom high on
the list of most corrupt countries”, he said, citing its
role as a tax haven and a defender of the tax haven
role of its overseas territories and dependencies,
as well as its “dismal role in undermining the
effectiveness” of the European Union’s attempts to
close tax loopholes. He argued that there had been
too much emphasis on corruption in the developing
world and not enough on the abuse of offshore tax
havens by the wealthiest countries25."
IN OTHER WORDS A TAX HAVEN CAN ONLY BE SUCCESSFUL IF IT IS PROTECTED BY A MAJOR POWER.
"The World Bank estimates that US$1 trillion is
paid in bribes each year globally . Transparency
International has been concerned that corruption in
developing countries was sustained by bribes paid by
Western countries."
THIS CORRUPTION INVOLVES MANY THINGS - THE LIST IS ENDLESS.From gun and drug running to illegal logging,endangered species,to the doctors being paid to sign up babies to certain types of milk formula,you name it,they're into it.
The worst companies are,of course,oil ans gas.Why?Because they have more money than anyone else.
AUSTRALIA?TRY IRAQ,AND THE AWB SCANDAL IS JUST THE TIP OF IT.
WOODSIDE - MAURITIUS.
THE EQUATOR PRINCIBLES?
"‘Equator Principles’ include
Barclays plc, HSBC Group, ING Group, ANZ and
the Westpac Banking Corporation. All up, the
current signatories provide more than 90% of global
project finance."
DOESN'T DO MUCH FOR CONFIDENCE THAT SO MANY BIG BANKS HAVE BEEN FOUND OUT FOR LAUNDERING LATELY AND FIXING THE LIBOR.
WHAT IS THE RESOURCE CURSE?
"Many countries are rich in oil, gas
and minerals. When governance is good, these can
generate large revenues to foster economic growth
and reduce poverty. However, when governance is
weak, they may instead cause poverty, corruption,
and conflict – the so called “resource curse”."
COMPANIES TOO CLOSE TO GOVERNMENTS.
"Halliburton, Vice
President Dick Cheney’s former company, had a nobid
contract with the US Army Corps of Engineers25.
After raising her voice over this contract, Pentagon
contracting officer Bunny Greenhouse was demoted.
Halliburton was found to have poor book keeping and
to have overcharged the army26. Before a report by
US military auditors about the millions of dollars spent
in Iraq could reach the United Nations, the Pentagon
ensured that Halliburton could edit the report before
releasing it27. Halliburton received over US$900 million
in contracts without having to compete for them."
THESE NAMES ARE FAMILLIAR.
"A UN audit board asked that the US repay Iraq for
US$208.5 million for work claimed to have been done
by Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg Brown and Root,
on the basis the work either done at inflated prices or
done poorly28.
Other key beneficiaries from the lack of a bidding
procedure or biased bidding procedures were
Bechtel, Flour, Parsons and a handful of other large
US-based engineering companies with longstanding
Pentagon ties and strong networks of friends within
the administration29."
"The US Special Inspector General stated on 30 April
2006 that “Corruption in the oil and gas sector is
a continuing problem that could have devastating
effects on both the progress of sector reconstruction
and on the overall status of the reconstruction and
democracy-building effort in Iraq.”"
BUT WHERE TO LAUNDER THE MONEY?
http://victas.uca.org.au/main.php?pg=download&id=219239
YES,WHERE INDEED?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.vanuatuparadise.com/NewFiles/anglais/investssement/investir_ang.html
"It is rare to find the combination of a fiscal and tropical paradise which exists in Vanuatu.
The country boasts an advantageous tax regime which is enhanced by several unique features when compared to other finance centres:
• There is no income tax in Vanuatu, no withholding tax, no capital gains tax, no death duties and no exchange controls. Money is easily transferred in all major currencies.
• Vanuatu financial centre has been in operation for almost 40 years, much longer than many of its competitors. Its infrastructure of lawyers, accountants, trust companies and banks is well established and this enables it to offer investors a reliable and high quality service “on the spot”.
• The country has a unique multicultural environment. This is inherited from Condominium times before its independence in 1980 when it was governed both by the French and the British."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tax_haven
"A tax haven is a state or a country or territory where certain taxes are levied at a low rate or not at all while offering due process, good governance and a low corruption rate."
"There are several definitions of tax havens. The Economist has tentatively adopted the description by Geoffrey Colin Powell (former economic adviser to Jersey): "What ... identifies an area as a tax haven is the existence of a composite tax structure established deliberately to take advantage of, and exploit, a worldwide demand for opportunities to engage in tax avoidance." The Economist points out that this definition would still exclude a number of jurisdictions traditionally thought of as tax havens.[2] Similarly, others have suggested that any country which modifies its tax laws to attract foreign capital could be considered a tax haven.[3] According to other definitions,[4] the central feature of a haven is that its laws and other measures can be used to evade or avoid the tax laws or regulations of other jurisdictions.
In its December 2008 report on the use of tax havens by American corporations,[5] the U.S. Government Accountability Office was unable to find a satisfactory definition of a tax haven but regarded the following characteristics as indicative of it:
1.nil or nominal taxes;
2.lack of effective exchange of tax information with foreign tax authorities;
3.lack of transparency in the operation of legislative, legal or administrative provisions;
4.no requirement for a substantive local presence; and
5.self-promotion as an offshore financial center."
http://worldfinancialpost.com/jersey-is-bluffing-independence-would-ruin-its-tax-haven-status-nicholas-shaxson.html
"A bit of history helps put this in context. In 1972, Carl Gerstacker, chairman of the Dow Chemical Company, said he dreamed of buying an island “owned by no nation, and of establishing the world headquarters of the DOW COMPANY on the truly neutral ground of such an island, beholden to no nation or society”. That same year, some American libertarians dumped a large pile of sand on a reef near Tonga in the South Pacific, proclaiming the Republic of Minerva as a tax haven with no taxes, and a society based on “rugged individualism”, where “nothing will be illegal”. Soon afterwards, the Tonga defence force tore down the Minerva flag and destroyed the sand platform."
"Since then, several efforts have been made – usually led by white, male libertarians, gun nuts, drug-runners, Klansmen, arms dealers, mobsters, former CIA agents or ex-Nazis – to set up free-standing, self-governed tax havens in enclaves in the Bahamas, Costa Rica, the Azores, Haiti, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Anguilla, VANUATU, and even Libya.
ReplyDeleteEvery attempt failed. What these adventurers did not understand is that successful tax havens are created, nurtured and protected by LARGE,POWERFUL NATION-STATES and their RICH AND POWERFUL ELITES, who wish to use these offshore zones to escape the rules, laws and taxes that they resent.""
HOWS THIS FOR A CHILLING INSIGHT.
"Lenny Harper, an outsider appointed to be Jersey’s deputy police chief until his retirement in 2008, gave a flavour of the small island’s mouldy governance in an affidavit in 2009, following a high-profile child abuse investigation. “There are no checks and balances on power and the abuse of it,” he wrote. “It was like nowhere else in the British Isles … this is obvious each time one tries to make a complaint against any member of the government … With such an absence of controls, such an absence of accountability, the ordinary decent people of Jersey are helpless.”
The controversial former Jersey senator Stuart Syvret summarises clearly: “There is a kind of tatty credibility that clings to the public administration here, which comes from operating under the skirts of the establishment in London,” he says. “If Jersey became independent as a quasi-banana republic in Europe, there would soon be serious doubts in the minds of offshore clients.”"
COULDN'T HELP THINKING OF WA AND BARNETT WHILE READING THOSE LAST COUPLE OF PARAGRAPHS.
ReplyDeleteWOODSIDE FIT THE BILL OK.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodside_Petroleum
Criticism
In February 2006, the Mauritanian government led by Ely Ould Mohamed Vall denounced amendments to an oil contract made by former authoritarian leader Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya with Woodside Petroleum. In 2004, Woodside had agreed to invest US$ 600 million in developing Mauritania's Chinguetti offshore oil project. The controversial amendments, which Mauritanian authorities declared had been signed "outside the legal framework of normal practice, to the great detriment of our country", could cost Mauritania up to $200 million a year, according to BBC News.[8] The Australian Federal Police in June 2006 were investigating Woodside for allegations of bribery and corruption in Mauritania according to the Sydney Morning Herald.[9][10] The AFP officially cleared the company of any wrongdoing in May 2008.[citation needed]
In 2006-2007, as part of the Pluto LNG project, Woodside faced opposition over plans to build an onshore processing plant on the Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia, as the site is home to significant petroglyphs up to 30,000 years old.[11]
It has been suggested that intense lobbying by Woodside Petroleum contributed to the coalition Howard government's initial decision against emissions trading in August 2000.[12] The company also opposed the Rudd Labor government's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme in 2009.[13]
Woodside is among six companies accused of making deceptive public statements in an attempt to get free carbon permits. The Australian Conservation Foundation says the companies exaggerated in public, but told a different story to their shareholders and investors. In June 2009, the ACF lodged an official complaint with the Federal consumer affairs watchdog asking that the matter be investigated.[14] The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission took no action against the companies.[
'NUFF SAID,RELENTLESS GREED.
THE COMPLETE LIST OF TAX HAVENS.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.qwealthreport.com/blog/the-complete-oecd-tax-haven-blacklist/
Here, then, for the record is a complete list of non-cooperative tax havens as published by the OECD, for which I would like to thank the print edition of the Spanish newspaper El Pais dated April 4th, 2009. In fact, there are three lists: the blacklist (countries that ignore foreign fiscal authorities) a grey list (countries that supposedly lack fiscal transparency but have commited to change) and a third list, neither grey nor black, of countries that are “non-co-operative financial centres.”
THE BLACKLIST
Costa Rica, Philippines, Malaysia
THE GREY LIST (COUNTRIES THAT HAVE COMMITTED TO CHANGE)
Andorra, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Bahrein, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cook Islands, Cyprus, Dominica, Gibraltar, Grenada, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritius, Monaco, Monserrat, Nauru, Netherlands Antilles, Niue, Panama, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Seychelles, Turks and Caicos Islands, US Virgin Islands, VANUATU. (Uruguay was oficially added to this list a few days later)
NON-COOPERATIVE FINANCIAL CENTRES
Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Chile, Guatemala, Luxembourg, Singapore, Switzerland
AS YOU CAN SEE VANUATU IS RIGHT THERE WITH THE "JERSEY'S AND CAYMAN ISLANDS" OF THE TAX HAVEN WORLD.