Sanjib Sinha By Sanjib Sinha
It’s a story of ‘Fall of Man’ and the prevailing of romanticism.
When English poet John Milton wrote his epic poem ‘Paradise Lost’, in 17th-century, he had never imagined how his thought of ‘justifying the ways of God to men’ would be degrading down from generation to generation in such a sad way.
But it really did; indeed! The recent leak of ‘Paradise Papers’ actually gives enough strength and succor to his favorite idea of ‘fall of man’; and the ‘ways of God’ has been rebutted when journalist and blogger Daphne Caruana Galizia was killed recently in a car bomb near her home in Malta. This courageous lady was described as a ‘one-woman WikiLeaks’ by the Politico website. She led the ‘Panama Papers’ investigation into corruption in Malta and she had to be stopped, because her writings had been exposing the vicious nexus between politics and underworld in Europe’s smallest member state.
From ‘Panama Papers’ to ‘Paradise Papers’, a cycle is now complete. But it’s just a beginning of a new era of journalism – data journalism; where ethical hackers play significant roles to expose hidden lies. Hidden files!
You know about Panama Papers, and you’ve probably heard enough about Paradise Papers, already. There has been a common link between these two colossal leaks. In Panama Papers we’ve seen files that expose the offshore holdings of 140 politicians and public officials. They were key figures from around the world that included powerful men like the prime minister of Pakistan, Iceland, the president of Ukraine, and the king of Saudi Arabia. Pakistan Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has by now been indicted and according to the latest news Sharif and his family members may face travel bans.
There were Indian names too and Indian government constituted a high-profile team to investigate this gigantic tax-evasion; but don’t expect any action or removal soon. Why? Because India doesn’t have a system like Pakistan where you first remove and then have a trial; this is the official statement issued by Foreign Minister Arun Jaitley.
Paradise Papers leak is more recent. It not only reveals offshore interests and activities of more than 120 politicians and world leaders, it also exposes the tax-engineering of more than hundred multinational corporations.
The names of politicians and world leaders include Queen Elizabeth II, and 13 advisers, major donors and members of U.S. President Donald J. Trump’s administration. The manifold names of multinational corporations include Apple, Nike and Botox-maker Allergan. According to the Paradise Papers there were secretive deals connected to ‘Glencore’, the world’s largest commodity trader. It showed that the company had negotiated with the Democratic Republic of the Congo for valuable mineral resources. Further it also showed how shell companies in Mauritius and Singapore had been used to reduce taxes. The Paradise Papers have enough documents to give a clear picture of how powerful and rich people own jets and yachts sans tax; and they do it using Isle of Man tax-avoidance structures.
This mysterious and humongous tax-escapade has been associated with a tiny country – Isle of Man. How ironical!
The Isle of Man is a fascinating country. It’s a self-governing British Crown dependency in the Irish Sea between England and Ireland. It’s surrounded by rugged coastline, medieval castles and it also has rural landscape. The name of the capital is Douglas and it has the Manx Museum that traces the island’s Celtic and Viking heritage. It has population around only 83,737 (provided by World Bank in 2016).
A nice peaceful country exemplified by a history of over 1000 years of continuous parliamentary government. It’s the longest unbroken period of government in the world. But, wait, as ‘offshore money centre’ this country is simply unrivaled. Offshore investments in the Isle of Man lay yourself open to no liability to taxes on investment income or capital gains. This tiny Isle of Man is indeed a tax efficient money centre.
I hope, so far, we’ve gathered enough logic to establish our first point. Whether it’s Panama Papers leak or Paradise Papers leak, the documents actually carry the history of illegal transactions. An entity – be it an individual or a corporation – the primary concern is: it somehow tries to avoid tax. Had they paid that tax, they would have indirectly benefited billions of poor people. The sad part is: there are lots of political people and ministers, emerging through the document, who are voted to power by the people – not to empower them but to steal their money and siphon them to the offshore accounts…
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE… (mesanjib.wordpress.com)
Home | Caravan to Midnight (zutalk.com)
