Ethics and governance in the European Financial centers

Reuters as reported that a Luxembourg court will decide in hearings starting today whether investors have the right to bring direct claims against the fund’s custodian and auditor.

The Commission de Surveillance du Secteur Financier, Luxembourg’s financial regulator, last week said it “falls exclusively to the courts” to decide whether banks must pay compensation over their role as depositary.

The head of the Luxembourg tax administration will testify before the court.

He stated that "ruling" is neither illegal nor exceptional in Luxembourg

He is right.

I will quote a comment on TJN website: Nobody dares talking about the horrendous tax advantages granted by some tax administration offices in "tax rulings" to off-shore structures, giving a "taxable income label" to next to zero taxed income, rerouted to tax heavens. (PECS, CPECS, which by a wonder transform deductible interest on one side into non taxable profit on the other).

"Ruling" is neither illegal nor exceptional in Luxembourg.

So is Tax evasion.

Fiduciaries are the heart of the scandal.

One that no longer exists stated on its website:

The economic policy of Luxembourg is characterized by its liberalism as regards establishment.
The policy pursued by the government encourages the private initiatives, the administration is with the service of the companies, and not the reverse.
The bank secrecy forms integral part of the Luxembourg legislative system.
Absence of local taxation for the non-residents, bearer shares, exemption of appreciations on the participations.
(...)
The abuse social good and tax evasion are non-existent in the Luxembourg law.
The majority of the daily expenses of the leaders can pass in load.
(...)
Anonymity is a paramount concept in the Grand Duchy whose keystone is the bank secrecy.
The economic recipient with the possibility of not appearing as a shareholder and/or an administrator of the company by the installation of the contract of trust.
This contract is regulated by the Luxembourg law as well as the bank secrecy.
Trust is a notion absent from the French right, it makes it possible to transfer the legal property from its goods fiduciary while preserving the economic capacity on the aforementioned goods.
The application of trust makes it possible to manage its business very by preserving anonymity.
(...)
We irremediably entered a phase of delocalization which corresponds above all to problems of tax management and say for the company to a procedure of survival.

And the professional to specify that "thanks to X and has its partners Attorney and Lawyers, you can within the framework of an economic beneficiary, own and manage your business without appearing officially. That can be practical for the detention of goods and real estate , or for the continuation of an activity

The best is the legal page where the fiduciary explained that :
- it does not support fraud, and
- it is not responsible for verifying the compliance with laws and regulation, which is up to the client.

PwC has just published its Economic Crime Survey.

There are no respondants from Luxembourg as officially economic crime does not exist, so corruption does not exist in this jurisdiction.

Why ? 

Thanks to the small size of the country, the fact that everyone knows everyone else (thus encouraging self-regulation) and the high level of incomes.

This is what was said by the Luxembourg authorities in OECD and GRECO reports.

This may be the reason why there are no data about corruption in Luxembourg.

In its report to assess the enforcement of the OECD Bribery Convention, TI observes that  “No TI reports were prepared for three countries, Estonia, Iceland and Luxembourg, since TI lacks experts in those countries, but TI Estonia provided current data on cases and investigations”.

It appears that in the tables data are actually missing only for two jurisdictions: Iceland, the jurisdiction that went bankrupt, and Luxembourg. Among the EU Member States that signed the OECD convention (most States) Luxembourg distinguishes itself, as it is the only jurisdiction that is unable to provide data, which is telling for a jurisdiction that is an important financial center despite it is a tiny state

The fontage is definitely cracked.

Several civil servants from the tax admuinistration are before the court in Luxembourg this week

Corruption, economic crime and tax evasion with offshore scams are on the agenda.

The tax haven is there.

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