Ukrainian companies appeared in a European corruption scandal
Scottish companies could either become a link in the chains of alleged Russian money laundering in Europe, or could be related to Ukraine. Russian and Ukrainian consulting firms advertised Scottish limited liability partnerships (SLPs) as a “European offshore,” a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
It is reported by the BBC.
SLPs are reportedly involved in arms procurement, transfer of funds abroad and money laundering schemes, along with offshore jurisdictions such as Belize or Panama.
“Russian and Ukrainian consulting firms advertised SLP as a “European offshore” that allowed almost complete tax evasion - with a registration fee of only a few hundred dollars,” the publication writes.
Back in 2016, the media reportedly wrote that SLPs figured in arms procurement schemes in Ukraine, in 2017 – in Russian and Azerbaijani “Laundromats” – schemes for withdrawing funds, in 2018 – in schemes for possible money laundering in the Baltic and Scandinavian banks, including the Danish Danske Bank.
Prosecutors in Estonia and Denmark have launched investigations into possible money laundering at Danske Bank based on statements from the head of the Hermitage Capital fund, William Browder, one of SLP’s critics.
In addition, the UK National Crime Agency is investigating the use of British companies in connection with the growing scandal at Danske Bank, since two weeks ago a former employee of the financial institution, Howard Wilkinson, spoke at a public hearing in the European Parliament with harsh criticism of SLP. It was he who became the first person who once spoke about possible money laundering at Danske Bank.
Although offshore companies are supposed to not exist in the EU, and the Anti-Money Laundering Directive prohibits banks from working with companies whose beneficiaries they do not know, the non-governmental organization Oxfam (an international anti-poverty organization) has compiled an alternative list of tax havens based on the same criteria that uses the EU.
It included, along with Trinidad and Tobago, 35 countries, including the European countries Ireland, Malta, Luxembourg and the Netherlands. These jurisdictions have low tax rates, and companies registered in them have repeatedly appeared in tax optimization schemes of transnational corporations (Apple, Starbucks, Amazon).
Thus, today’s ban by the UK on issuing “Tier 1 Investor Visas”, which were called “golden visas” among ordinary investors, can be explained by the fight against financial crimes.
The Tier 1 Investor Visa was introduced in 2008 with the aim of attracting wealthy people living outside the EU to Britain.
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