08/19/2009
New affair involving Luxembourg regulation
Money Marketing has reported that Administrator PricewaterhouseCoopers is still assessing potential litigation for Keydata investors with missing assets in SLS Capital but says dividend prospects for creditors in the insolvent firm are currently ‘poor’.
As IFA Online explains, the cash had been invested with Luxembourg-incorporated firm SLS Capital, however PwC discovered in June its underlying assets had been "liquidated and may have been misappropriated".
Elsewhere, more than 23,000 other savers face unexpected tax bills on their income after bonds issued by Keydata were found to be ineligible for Isas.
The funds, which had been placed with another Luxembourg company, Lifemark, were not invested properly and savers have been told they will now have to pay tax on their income.
Lifemark is under the supervision of the CSSF: see recent lists securitisation 210709.pdf, pages 1-2 and titrisation 210709.pdf, pages 1-2.
SLS Capital does not seem to be supervised by the CSSF.
As far as Lifemark is concerned, PwC is the auditor, which raises two questions:
1) Is the supervision in Luxembourg less strict when a big four firm is the auditor?
2) What about the possible conflict of interest? I know that PwC Luxembourg specifies on every press release that "PricewaterhouseCoopers refers to the network of member firms of PricewaterhouseCoopers International Limited, each of which is a separate and independent legal entity", but it remains PwC UK and PwC Luxembourg are in the same network and have common interests.
Know more:
06:30 Posted in Luxembourg | Permalink | Comments (1)
08/18/2009
International recognition for Luxembourg
Read on a website in the US, F.A.Q. page:
Do you ship outside the U.S.?
Yes, however we do not accept orders from the following countries due to the high rate of fraud:
Argentina, Bermuda, Brazil, Cayman Islands, Chile, Colombia, Corsica, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Estonia, Fiji, French Polynesia, Grenada, Guatemala, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Kuwait, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Martinique, Mauritius, Mexico, Netherlands Antilles, New Caledonia, Nigeria, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, St Lucia, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, Uruguay, Venezuela, Yugoslavia.
Many of the above countries are "tax havens", or developing countries, or countries of Estern Europe.
It is amazing but not a surprise to see Luxembourg on this list. It is the result of a lax legal and regulatory framework in the jurisdiction.
08:10 Posted in Luxembourg | Permalink | Comments (3)
Goodies: Venezuelan letters (V)
Persian Letters (Lettres persanes) is a satirical work, by Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu, recounting the experiences of two Persian noblemen, Usbek and Rica, who are traveling through France. In Paris, the Persians express themselves on a wide variety of subjects, from governmental institutions to salon caricatures.
As this is summer time, I would like to offer some goodies on this blog with a couple of Venezuelan letters. These will be an exchange of e-mail between two Venezuelans, the first one, Manuel, residing in Venezuela and the second one, Jose, travelling in Europe.
From: Manuel
To: Jose
Sent: Monday, August 17, 2009 11:55 PM
Subject: Auditors
Dear Jose,
The Luxembourg audit system seems very good.
As the auditee – the client – pays for the audit, he/she must have a say on the evolution of the Luxembourg audit framework and on the external auditors’ duties.
Is it difficult to be an auditor in Luxembourg?
Cheers.
Jose
From: Jose
To: Manuel
Sent: Tuesday, August 18, 2009 6:50 AM
Subject: RE: Auditors
Dear Manuel
You will not believe it. I am now auditor in Luxembourg. It is funny, they call me a commissaire (comisario), although I am not with the police.
I met a professional in a cabaret close to the station last week.
I was invited the day before yesterday to play the golf by this nice man who is working for a law firm that was looking for an auditor for a société anonyme (Joint Stock Company) to be registered in Luxembourg whose shareholders are located in Tortola (BVI), Jersey and Singapore. He whispered that it was very secret and anonymous and confidential .
He asked me if I would be interested to be the commissaire (statutory auditor) of that company.
I told him that I left school when I was fifteen and that I neither studied law nor accounting.
He replied that it does not matter as the law of 1915 on commercial companies does not require any qualification to be a statutory auditor.
The audit in itself is not a difficult job: the audit report will be prepared based on a template. I will only have to put my signature and cash some money
I was asked as well to create a company in Luxembourg. The law firm will provide me the money. The appointment is tomorrow at the notary’s office.
Authorities here are business friendly as the business comunity decides simultaneously on the legislation and the regulation to be enforced and the ultimate controls. There are many statutory auditors and shareholders like me. Ningún problema, as we say at home.
Cheers
Jose
07:37 Posted in Luxembourg | Permalink | Comments (0)