WASHINGTON – Corrupt foreign officials and their relatives have used gaps in U.S. law and the assistance of U.S. professionals to funnel millions of dollars in illicit money into the United States, an investigation by the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations has found. [PDF]
On 27th January 2010, the OECD hosted a joint meeting of the Committee on Fiscal Affairs and the Development Assistance Committee, bringing together the tax and development communities for the first time. Participants agreed on a set of general principles to guide follow up action.
A new Global Witness report, ‘The Secret Life of a Shopaholic: How an African dictator’s playboy son went on a multi-million dollar shopping spree in the US’, strongly suggests that Teodorin Obiang, son of the dictator of oil-rich Equatorial Guinea, purchased a $33 million private jet, a $35 million Malibu mansion, speedboats and a fleet of fast cars using corruptly acquired funds. The report goes on to explain how, despite the ample evidence against him, the investigation is going nowhere and Teodorin continues to be allowed into the U.S.
WASHINGTON – Deputy Attorney General David W. Ogden released the following statement regarding the announcement today by the Department of Justice and the Internal Revenue (IRS) regarding the results arising from previous settlements of civil and criminal cases against Swiss banking giant UBS AG. The Justice Department and IRS announced that over 14,700 taxpayers have come forward to report previously-undisclosed foreign bank accounts under the voluntary disclosure program the IRS implemented following the settlement. This figure represents almost double the initial numbers the IRS announced in October and dwarfs the number of voluntary disclosures received in 2008.
Statement of Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich) on the Disclosure of the Annex to the U.S.-Swiss Settlement Agreement in The UBS Case
Full text of the Criteria for Granting Assistance Pursuant to the Treaty Request in the August 2009 Agreement Between the United States of America and the Swiss Confederation on the request for information from the Internal Revenue Service of the United States of America regarding UBS AG, a corporation established under the laws of the Swiss Confederation.
Transparency International’s 2009 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI). The CPI, released annually since 1995, aims to quantify corruption by measuring the perceived level of public-sector corruption over 180 jurisdictions worldwide.
Final Communiqué from the meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in St. Andrews, United Kingdom.
Full Remarks of Attorney General Eric Holder at the Opening Plenary of the VI Ministerial Global Forum on Fighting Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity in Doha, Qatar.
Statement by Secretary Geithner at the G-20 Meeting of Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors in St. Andrews, Scotland.
WASHINGTON – Legislation introduced by Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., to stop the formation of U.S. corporations with hidden owners will be the subject of a Thursday hearing before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs.
Opening Statement of Michael F. Mundaca, Nominee for Assistant United States Secretary of the Treasury for Tax Policy, before the U. S. Senate Committee on Finance.
The final report of Michael Foot’s Review of the opportunities and challenges facing the British Crown Dependencies (Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey) and six Overseas Territories (Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Gibraltar, Turks and Caicos Islands) was published on 29 October. The recommendations made to these jurisdictions cover: the quality and extent of economic planning; meeting international standards on tax transparency, financial sector regulation, and tackling financial crime; ensuring that deposit protection schemes can be understood by depositors; considering whether an Ombudsman scheme is justified; and crisis prevention and resolution measures.
Summary: Recent events have highlighted the growing use of foreign financial institutions, foreign trusts, and foreign corporations by U.S. individuals to evade U.S. tax. In order to prevent this tax evasion, the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act of 2009 would provide the U.S. Treasury Department with significant new tools to find and prosecute U.S. individuals that hide assets overseas from the Internal Revenue Service.
Statement by President Barack Obama on House and Senate Introducing Legislation to Crack Down on Overseas Tax Havens
The Task Force on Financial Integrity & Economic Development
1319 18th Street, NW Suite 200 Washington, DC 20036
Email: info@financialtaskforce.org
Telephone: +1 (202) 293-0740 Fax: +1 (202) 293-1720
