Author Archives: Diana Latona

How to Whistle-Blow: Dissensus and Demand

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What makes an external whistleblower effective?

Kate Kenny and Alexis Bushnell report:  Whistleblowers represent an important conduit for dissensus, providing valuable information about ethical breaches and organizational wrongdoing. They often speak out about injustice from a relatively weak position of power, with the aim of changing the status quo. But many external whistleblowers fail in this attempt to make their claims heard and thus secure change. Some can experience severe retaliation and public blacklisting, while others are ignored.

This article examines how whistleblowers can succeed in bringing their claims to the public’s atten- tion. We draw on analyses of political struggle by Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe. Specifically, we propose that through the raising of a demand, the whistleblowing subject can emerge as part of a chain of equivalences, in a counter-hegemonic movement that challenges the status quo. An analysis of a high-profile case of tax justice whistleblowing-that of Rudolf Elmer-illustrates our argument. Our proposed theoretical framing builds upon and contributes to literature on whistleblowing as organizational parrhesia by demonstrating how parrhesiastic demand might lead to change in public perception through the formation of alliances with other disparate interests—albeit that the process is precarious and complex.

Practically, our article illuminates a persistent concern for those engaged in dissensus via whistleblowing, and whose actions are frequently ignored or silenced. We demonstrate how such actions can move towards securing public support in order to make a differ-ence and achieve change…Elmers Story 2020

Isabell Hemming
www.w-t-w.org/en/isabell-hemming

A Whistleblower’s War Against Off-Shore Banking

EU To Put Cayman Islands On Tax Haven Blacklist

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The top 10 countries that have done the most to proliferate corporate tax avoidance and break down the global corporate tax system are:

1. British Virgin Islands (British territory)
2. Bermuda (British territory)
3. Cayman Islands (British territory)
4. Netherlands
5. Switzerland
6. Luxembourg
7. Jersey (British dependency)
8. Singapore
9. Bahamas
10. Hong Kong

These 10 jurisdictions alone are responsible for over half (52 per cent) of the world’s corporate tax avoidance risks as measured by the Corporate Tax Haven Index. Over two fifths of global foreign direct investment4 reported by the International Monetary Fund is booked in these 10 countries, where the lowest available corporate tax rates averaged 0.54 per cent…Taxjustice.net

Cayman Islands
In wake of Brexit, EU to put Cayman Islands on tax haven blacklist.
Decision on British overseas territory comes less than two weeks after UK left bloc.

The Cayman Islands, a British overseas territory, is to be put on an EU blacklist of tax havens, less than two weeks after the UK’s withdrawal from the bloc.

In a clear indication of the country’s loss of influence on the EU’s decision-making, the bloc’s 27 finance ministers are expected to sign off on the decision next week.

The EU’s blacklist is an attempt to clamp down on the estimated £506bn lost to aggressive tax avoidance every year but member states are not “screened” in the process of drawing up the blacklist…..TheGuardian.com

Design Rachel Gold
@wtwfinance
www.w-t-w.org/en/rachel-gold

Following the Drug Money

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EY: Gold, drug money and a major auditor’s ‘cover-up’

Andy Verity and Tim Robinson BBC reports: A major accountancy firm covered up evidence of smuggling by an organised crime gang that was laundering British drug money, an investigation has revealed.EY failed to report suspicious activity at one of the world’s largest gold refineries and then altered a compliance report to hide the crime.

BBC Panorama found the gang laundered money by selling 3.6 tonnes of gold to the Kaloti refinery in Dubai. Both EY and Kaloti deny any wrongdoing. Twenty-seven members of the money laundering gang were jailed in France in 2017.

The gang had collected cash from drug dealers in the UK and other European countries. They then laundered the dirty money by buying and selling black market gold….BBC.com

EY helped smuggle drug money

lawgazette.co.uk

Hybrid Threat Networks Exploit Financial Markets

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There are three types of hybrid warfare.

The first, often labelled as an attack on governance, uses legal means to undermine democratic liberal societies by inserting foreign influence or trying to gain financial and economic leverage over our normal democratic processes. Examples of this type of influencing are all around us: Russian television stations or news agencies and China’s 10% ownership of EU ports as well as its assertive presence in the South China Sea. To successfully respond, we have no other choice than making sure that we are working hard to assert our own democratic values and economic models. We simply need to out-communicate and outbid our adversaries.

The second type of hybrid warfare consists of the more brazen, illegal attempts to undermine and polarise our societies by sowing fear and mistrust. This is achieved by carrying out orchestrated attacks against the core elements of our social cohesion: free and fair elections, critical infrastructure and IT networks, the credibility of news and information, and the integrity of our business and financial transactions.

The third – and the most dangerous – type of hybrid warfare means using the aforementioned strategies as preparation and prelude for a military attack. This happened in Ukraine in March 2014 when Russian Special Forces, posing as “little green men”, seized the institutions, transport links, ports and communication channels of Crimea, thus preventing a Ukrainian response. While conflicts of…Friends of Europe.org
The vital role of public-private partnerships in countering hybrid threats/ Nov 2019
HYBRID AND TRANSNATIONAL THREATS

 

The Laundromat

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Hollywood A-listers Steven Soderbergh and Meryl Streep have spoken out against the secrecy of tax havens and lauded the bravery of the journalists who expose corruption at the opening of Panama Papers-inspired movie, The Laundromat.

The movie, which premiered on Sunday at the Venice International Film Festival, explores the world of tax havens and complex offshore financial structures through the eyes of Panamanian lawyers Jürgen Mossack and Ramón Fonseca, played by Gary Oldman and Antonio Banderas.

Their eponymous law firm, Mossack Fonseca, was at the heart of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists’ 2016 Panama Papers investigation, which revealed how politicians, celebrities, criminals and the global elite obscured their wealth and conducted questionable business deals through hard-to-trace companies and tax havens. More than 350 journalists from 80 countries worked together to uncover secrets hidden in a trove of 11.5 million leaked Mossack Fonseca files…icij.org

The Laundromat | Official Trailer |

A widow (Meryl Streep) investigates an insurance fraud, chasing leads to a pair of Panama City law partners (Gary Oldman and Antonio Banderas) exploiting the world’s financial system.

“Die Geldwäscherei” – A “MUST“ For Every Woman

What is a Whistleblower?

Dooa Eladl
www.w-t-w.org/en/doaa-eladl/

 

What Is a GONGO?

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How government-sponsored groups masquerade as civil society.

The Myanmar Women’s Affairs Federation is a GONGO. So is Nashi, a Russian youth group, and the Sudanese Human Rights Organization. Saudi Arabia’s International Islamic Relief Organization is also a GONGO, as is Chongryon, the General Association of Korean Residents in Japan. GONGOs are everywhere, in China, Cuba, France, Tunisia, and even the United States.

GONGOs are government-sponsored non-governmental organizations. Behind this contradictory and almost laughable tongue twister lies an important and growing global trend that deserves more scrutiny: governments funding and controlling nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), often stealthily. Some GONGOs are benign, others irrelevant. But many, including those mentioned above, are dangerous.

Attack Of The GONGOs: Government-Organized NGOs Flood Warsaw Meeting.

Some of these NGOs are not like the other ones.
ne’s Russian-occupied territory of Crimea to Central Asia, repressive regimes in former Soviet republics have been setting up fake nongovernmental organizations — so-called GONGOs — to try to influence the international debate about their poor human rights records.

Some GONGOs from Central Asia furtively attempted to infiltrate a coalition of bona fide civil-society activists who work with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

New York-based Human Rights Watch says GONGOs from Tajikistan that have been proliferating since 2016 were in large concentrations at the OSCE’s Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM) in Warsaw, and even threatened self-exiled Tajik rights activists who view the forum as the only international venue where they can call attention to abuses by the authorities in Dushanbe.

Russia-backed GONGOs at the conference blatantly championed the Kremlin’s policy goals in Crimea — leading to angry shouting matches with Ukrainian government delegates who walked out in protest….Rferl.org

Finger-Puppets: Kremlin planning to get back in the GONGO business in a big way

From Anti-Corruption To Criminal Justice Reform

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Elizabeth Warren is becoming Trump’s greatest threat

Dean Obeidallah reports:  How did Warren climb from single digits in national polls in March to now topping Biden in the new Iowa poll? She hit all the right notes with Democrats and especially with the progressive wing of the party. Her debate performances have been consistently very good. Warren’s ‘I have a plan for that’ mantra where she has released detailed plans for policy issues facing our nation from childcare to anti-corruption to criminal justice reform — and the list goes on — has resonated with voters…..CNNSearch Elisabeth Warren

How Mauritius Leaks Got Started

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Mauritius Leaks is our cross-border investigation into how one law firm on a small island off Africa’s east coast helped companies leach tax revenue from poor African, Arab and Asian nations.

Led by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, the investigation is a collaboration by 54 journalists in 18 countries.

More than 200,000 documents from the Mauritius office of a prestigious offshore law firm, Conyers Dill & Pearman, are at the heart of the investigation. ICIJ corroborated company information from the leaked documents with data in the Mauritius corporate registry and the Financial Services Commission’s register of licensees.

The documents offer a rare window into corporate tax avoidance in countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

Read the full investigation: icij.org/investigations/mauritius-leaks

icij.org

All You Need To Know About The Free-Trade Zones

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What is a free port?  Plans have been mooted for tax-free zones to offset post-Brexit tariffs. But are they needed? And do they actually work?

Lux goods: inside Luxembourg’s warehouse for the super-rich.
The medieval Cinque Ports of southern England and the northern European Hanseatic League benefited from special privileges, while bonded warehouses in the 19th century handed out tax breaks on alcohol and tobacco.

Ireland created the Shannon free zone in 1959 to encourage activity at its struggling airport.

Britain operated several free ports as recently as 2012, when the government stopped renewing their licences. Created in the 1980s, they included Birmingham, Belfast, Cardiff, Liverpool, Prestwick and Southampton. A free port remains in operation on the Isle of Man – a crown dependency and therefore not part of the EU or UK.

Does the UK need to leave the EU to establish free ports?Within the EU, there are currently 82 free ports or zones in 21 EU member states, including historic free ports such as Copenhagen and Bremen, raising questions over whether the UK would need to leave the EU to make more use of them.The UK has in recent years created 61 enterprise zones – which differ from free zones but still benefit from tax breaks – including the Ceramic Valley in Stoke-on-Trent and the Dorset innovation park.Obstacles could arise, however, if the government created free zones with particularly aggressive benefits equivalent to tax havens, which could be contested under EU law.

Other nations could still object at the World Trade Organisation, while aggressive tax policies and state support could hinder a post-Brexit trade deal with the EU.Would free zones benefit the UK?…TheGuardian

Inside the Luxembourg free port storing riches for the super-wealthy. Depending on who you speak to, Le Freeport is a high-security storage facility or a money-laundering risk…Theguardian

(Illustration by Terry LaBan)