The tax inspector is currently investigating extensive tax evasion practiced by most of the Icelandic “outvasion Vikings” and other main players of the Icelandic economy in the lead-up to and the aftermath of the banking collapse in October 2008. Posts Tagged ‘Tax Evasion’
Most Business Big Shots Suspected of Tax Evasion
Sunday, April 25th, 2010The tax inspector is currently investigating extensive tax evasion practiced by most of the Icelandic “outvasion Vikings” and other main players of the Icelandic economy in the lead-up to and the aftermath of the banking collapse in October 2008. Tax Evasion at Icelandic Banks Before Collapse
Friday, March 19th, 2010
The Icelandic banks avoided paying approximately ISK 100 billion in taxes for derivatives trading before their collapse in the autumn of 2008, according to an investigation undertaken on behalf of the Ministry of Finance. Nordic tax fraud probe stretches to Bahamas
Thursday, March 11th, 2010
An information sharing contract has been signed between the Nordic nations and the Bahamas, intended to hinder Nordic tax evasion.
The contract signed yesterday allows Nordic tax authorities access to information on taxes paid and deposits made by Nordic citizens in the Bahamas and will help them track and assess those trying to hide taxable assets overseas.
The contract is the latest in a joint Nordic campaign against tax fraud and was signed at the Danish Embassy in Paris yesterday.
The project has been enthusiastically endorsed by the OECD and has strengthened the position of the Nordic nations on the world stage, RUV reports.
Since project negotiations began in 2007, similar contracts have come into force with Aruba, Andorra, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Jersey, the Antilles, the Cayman Islands, British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Turks and Caicos Islands, Gibraltar, the Cook Islands, Samoa and San Marino.
Denmark has also independently signed similar contracts with St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenadine, St. Kitts and Nevis and Antigua and Barbuda.
Eva Joly to Dutch media: “Netherlands being arrogant”
Saturday, January 9th, 2010
Eva Joly, the MEP and white collar crime fighter now assisting Iceland’s Special Prosecutor, was interviewed this week in the Dutch NRC Handelsblad. She spoke about her experience investigating fraud at the Elf oil company in France during the 1990s, about the tax evasion of multinational businesses and about her work in Iceland.
Below is the transcript of the interview relating specifically to Iceland. The rest can be read on the NRC website, here.
“The handful of banks that led that island to its doom are all private enterprises. When they collapsed, at the end of 2008, they had ten times more money in their current accounts than the state. The government was left powerless. There are about 330,000 Icelanders and most of them had nothing to do with this. But now the banks’ deficits have become the state’s deficit, affecting everybody. This is theft of public money.”
How is the investigation coming along?
“I cannot say much. The investigation is in progress and might take a couple of years.”
The Icelandic president does not feel that Iceland should repay the Netherlands and the UK back the damages incurred by IceSave’s demise. What is your opinion of the Dutch and British insistence that they do?
“The Netherlands and the UK are being arrogant. They are asking for 2.7 and 1.3 billion euros respectively at 5.5 percent interest. But Iceland’s public debt amounts to 300 percent of GDP. They will never be able to pay back the whole amount.”
Still, Dutch money has vanished.
“Yes, but the Dutch need to understand that it is both unrealistic and unreasonable to demand everything be repaid with so much interest, and to make this a condition for Iceland’s entry into the EU. What IceSave did was wrong, but the Dutch and the British are also partly to blame. All business was conducted through IceSave’s branch offices. The Dutch and British financial regulators said: these branches are not covered by our jurisdiction because they are the Icelandic supervisor’s responsibility. But everybody knew there was no way a handful of people in Reykjavik would be able to supervise properly what was happening in Amsterdam and London. According to a European directive, EU countries should regulate multinationals from outside the EU operating on their territory just as strictly as home-grown enterprises.”
Meaning the Dutch supervisor was negligent?
“To a certain extent, yes. The Dutch were supposed to ensure that the regulators in Reykjavik were doing a proper job, which they weren’t. The Netherlands has tried to cover its tracks citing IceSave’s legal status. Scandalous, really.”
How will this all end?
“If you do not meet Iceland halfway, only fishermen will remain on the island and you still won’t have your money back. The brain drain has begun: 8,000 highly educated people have already left the island and more will follow. It is not in our interest to impoverish Iceland. It has natural resources we might need in the future and it has a strategic location. We should not bully them, but negotiate, in a more grown up and proper fashion than we are currently doing.“