Where is Your Money Going?

Where is Your Money Going?

Large-scale conglomerates and billionaires  bypass the treasury with the aid of postbox companies. Criminals conceal their proceeds. The revelations of the Panama Papers have made international headlines.

But what are postbox companies? There is just a postbox in their name on the outside of the building yet nothing inside the building belongs to the company and none of the people working there are employed by them. The trail leads only to a bank account.

They are companies only name.  As a rule, a postbox company is established in one of the caribbean tax havens such as Panama, the British Virgin Islands or the Cayman Islands with the help of local lawyers and accountants. Pro forma there is often a nominee, but his task is only to pay the registration fee once a year. In order to conceal cash flows, money is bounced around all over the world through various accounts. Consequently it is nearly impossible to figure out who is the end benefit to the company.

Where is the money coming from? The postbox companies hold the money of many politicians, actors, celebrities, billionaires, arms dealers and perhaps also tax fraudsters. Big companies like Google, Apple or Starbucks skiped their money with the help of postbox companies around all over the world for pay the lowest taxes as possible.In the fact that tax fraudsters do no pay any taxes, means that taxpayers have to compensate them. Countries like Great Britain and France override against this companies but countries like Germany do not. But why? Germany would endamage themselves by proceed against - for example - Google. Instead of win more taxes they would lose billions. For though the german export industry pay taxes rather at home than in the countries, where they bring billions in.

At the beginning of June, the European parliament set up the "Pana" Research Committee to clarify the events. But this Committee is causing anger. European Council juries accuse Parliament of illegally interfering in the affairs of the Member States. In an opinion the governments are obliged to cooperate with the committee - and even point out that the panel could be dissolved.

Isabell Nietge

http://www.lemonde.fr/les-decodeurs/article/2016/07/04/panama-papers-ou-en-est-l-enquete-judiciaire_4963288_4355770.html

http://www.lemonde.fr/panama-papers/article/2016/05/06/la-base-de-donnees-des-panama-papers-ne-sera-publiee-que-partiellement_4915113_4890278.html

http://www.lemonde.fr/panama-papers/article/2016/04/06/ces-francais-moyens-qui-ont-un-pied-dans-les-paradis-fiscaux_4896609_4890278.html