Ethics and governance in the European Financial centers

Prime Minister Juncker was on the French radio this morning.

He wished the end of offshore centers as offshore centers “are an evil” and must be rolled. He said he was in favour of more transparency and confirmed that Luxembourg will accept the OECD standards.

The Narcotics Control Strategy Report on Luxembourg states that Luxembourg is an offshore financial center. This is as well what sells many “fiduciaries” in Luxembourg.

And this is true, because many Luxembourg-registered companies are linked to exotic jurisdictions that do not have the same standards of controls as Luxembourg. They are used for scams.


In a nutshell by combining what officially states the Narcotics Control Strategy Report on Luxembourg and Prime Minister Juncker’s statement, Luxembourg is an evil, unless it actually corrects the offshore abuses through Luxembourg.



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Bob Bauman has reported that Senator Max Baucus will support an alternative text to the "Stop Tax Haven Abuse Act" that was introduced by Senator Carl Levin.
Both senators are Democrats. Max Bocus chaired the Senate Finance Committee.

This story demonstrates that like in the European Union, politics that in influenced by lobbies, decide of policies.

But if I were the leaders of a place as Luxembourg I would not be jubilant: the Madoff case showed and wil show large deficiencies in the juridiction, admitted by the head of the CSSF.

In the context of the G 20 and of the debate against tax havens, the 7th Annual Financial Due Diligence Conference specializes in cutting edge information and intelligence on Fraud, Money Laundering, Tax Evasion, Compliance, Risk Management & Asset Recovery as they relate to Offshore Financial Centers.

It will take place on 26-28 April 2009.

Power Speakers will be :
Jeffrey Owens, Director of the OECD's Center for Tax Policy and Administration, who will give a Keynote Address on 'Offshore Financial Centers: Adapting to the New Political Realities'. He will outline the global political initiatives against OFCs and the consequences of not being an acceptable international player;
Ronald Sanders, a former Caribbean diplomat, now corporate executive, is generally considered to be an expert on the role of small states in the global community, who will outline his vision of the role that OFCs can play in the modern global economy;
Bob Roach, Counsel & Chief Investigator on US Senator Carl Levin's Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, who will give an insider's insight into the tax investigations against prominent offshore banks and their clients and explain what OFCs can expect from the Senate under a Barack Obama Administration;
Martin Kenney, one of the world's best-known asset recovery attorneys, as evidenced by an appearance on the CBS TV show '60 Minutes', who will show you techniques that have helped him successfully locate, freeze and seize concealed proceeds of crime all over the world;
Edward M. Robbins, Jr. and Bob Bernhoft, tax attorneys who came to prominence while defending billionaire UBS client Igor Olenicoff and actor Wesley Snipes, respectively, against criminal actions by the IRS, who will show you how to defend IRS administrative and criminal investigations, including taking a look at Fifth Amendment implications in offshore investigations, including UBS.

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