Panama Papers thread

[Faust]

I've got a tenner on Bono.

Nah bono is openly using the Irish/Dutch Sandwich Tax mitigation thing that drives everyone crazy, which means he legally pays 0 Tax.
Which is worse really, but until the loophole is closed there's nothing shady about it

[Junkenstein]

I've got a tenner on Bono.

Nah bono is openly using the Irish/Dutch Sandwich Tax mitigation thing that drives everyone crazy, which means he legally pays 0 Tax.
Which is worse really, but until the loophole is closed there's nothing shady about it

I did actually know about this and I STILL put a tenner on Bono.

He's a greedy little fucker and I wouldn't put it past him. Geldof will be in there too, just watch.

[Junkenstein]

Hidden camera footage from Mossack offices:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpjX4q5ZWQc

[Junkenstein]

And Cameron's coughed. More to come, surely.

[Cain]

I don't see Cameron lasting to 2020 at this rate, except perhaps through inertia.

[Vanadium Gryllz]

I don't see Cameron lasting to 2020 at this rate, except perhaps through inertia.

Do you think this will have a lasting effect on Cameron/any of the other figures listed?

They all seem to  be using the 'Well it is technically legal' line. I see it being forgotten pretty quickly by most people as soon as someone blows something else up.

I haven't been following all that closely though so would like to hear your analysis.

[Junkenstein]

I don't see Cameron lasting to 2020 at this rate, except perhaps through inertia.

I'd be amazed. He must be sleeping to the sounds of knives being sharpened. The only question for me is who's going to stab him first. The crappy excuses continue with things such as "Protecting his Father". Hopefully that will seal his fate as UK politicians have been "protecting" people who really don't fucking deserve it for far too fucking long. It also reeks of trying to find a more palatable lie. Not a particularly inventive one, either.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-35994283

On Thursday, the PM said he sold the shares before he entered Number 10 in 2010 and had paid all UK taxes due on profits from the £30,000 sale.

So that's likely to be a figure of around £0, I'm guessing. - Edit to add - Or almost to the pence the exact limit he can claim tax free. I'd have a fiver on £30,001+ causing a hefty tax bill because reasons. 

Asked on Monday whether she could confirm that no family money was still invested in the fund, Mr Cameron's spokeswoman said: "That is a private matter"
Then in an interview on Tuesday, Mr Cameron said: " I have no shares, no offshore trusts, no offshore funds, nothing like that. And, so that, I think, is a very clear description"
Downing Street issued a statement later that day: "To be clear, the prime minister, his wife and their children do not benefit from any offshore funds. The prime minister owns no shares. As has been previously reported, Mrs Cameron owns a small number of shares connected to her father's land, which she declares on her tax return"
No 10 then released a further clarifying statement on Wednesday, saying: "There are no offshore funds/trusts which the prime minister, Mrs Cameron or their children will benefit from in future"
On Thursday the PM told ITV News: "We owned 5,000 units in Blairmore Investment Trust, which we sold in January 2010"

Some of the defenders of his behaviour/statements are approaching deluded. I'm sure you're all surprised to know that many MP's don't seem to consider this bullshit an issue. There's a chap in a video in the link above that gets told directly he's conflating two obviously separate issues about 3/4 times in less than 2 minutes. He then seems to either not understand what that means or blatantly ignores it while proceeding to do the same again.

Other nonsense includes claims such as "Cameron will publish Tax return". I trust people will realise that this is worthless without also seeing his wife's and other connected family members and friends. Clarkson's is probably interesting, for example. As would be Rebekah Brooks and others of the Murdoch mob.

[Junkenstein]

"Have you had enough time to burn/shred/delete and nuke everything yet?"

"Oh Yes, we did that when this broke. As it states in our T+C's, we're not responsible for your records in any way."

"Oh. Good. Well, you know what we have to do now?"

"Yes, indeed, how does wednesday suit you?"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-36032325

Mossack offices raided.

Prosecutors said the operation had been carried out at the offices of Mossack Fonseca in Panama City "without incident or interference".

Taking all bets.

[Junkenstein]

Should the Brazil situation be in this thread? Fits the theme but I'm not seeing much information in general yet to say it's definitely related.

Either way, Brazil's having more fun than they really wanted. Good times. 

Edit to add - Yes it is related. Huge corruption in Brazilian Government, impeachment proceedings ongoing. Mossack had a hand in at least 57 out of a suspected 107 corrupt firms.

For anyone keeping score, 2.

[Junkenstein]

Wow:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-36069477

he BBC's Wyre Davis in Brazil says Ms Rousseff is an unpopular leader in a country facing a severe economic crisis.
But her supporters say many of the congressmen who are sitting in judgement have been accused of crimes too
If she is impeached, Vice-President Michel Temer would take over as interim president but he is also facing impeachment proceedings over the same allegations as Ms Rousseff
Lower house speaker Eduardo Cunha - second in line to replace her - is being investigated over allegations of taking multi-million-dollar bribes
Next in line to replace her is Renan Calheiros, head of the Senate. But he, too, is under investigation in connection with a massive corruption scandal at state-oil company Petrobras

I'm actually impressed.

[Cain]

To be fair, this was going on long before the Panama Papers were leaked.

[Junkenstein]

So it seems, i'm just woefully under-informed these days.

It does seem that information from the leak has helped things along considerably.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-36076737

She said that she had not committed any actions which warranted her impeachment.
She argued that presidents who had preceded her had engaged in fiscal manoeuvres similar to those she is accused of and no one had ever found fault with it.
The president said that the moves to impeach her were a power grab by those who did not have the votes to get the top job democratically.
Referring to her youth as a left-wing activist fighting Brazil's military rule, she said: "I spent my youth confronting the dictatorship, now I'm confronting a coup d'etat."

Again, interesting language use. Clearly better PR people than Iceland's PM had access to.

[Junkenstein]

Additionally, the "responses" here:
http://mossfonmedia.com/

They've really pulled their weight. When I first posted it, there was only five.

Now though, they've sweated and worked through the night to bring the grand total to....... 6.

Number 6? Brazil.

There's also this:

http://www.businessinsider.com/panama-papers-lawyer-ramon-fonseca-2016-4?IR=T

The main thing I saw there was the claim of hacking and not a leak. That will be interesting to see develop, everything else I've read about this so far seems to indicate the total opposite.

[Q. G. Pennyworth]

Additionally, the "responses" here:
http://mossfonmedia.com/

They've really pulled their weight. When I first posted it, there was only five.

Now though, they've sweated and worked through the night to bring the grand total to....... 6.

Number 6? Brazil.

There's also this:

http://www.businessinsider.com/panama-papers-lawyer-ramon-fonseca-2016-4?IR=T

The main thing I saw there was the claim of hacking and not a leak. That will be interesting to see develop, everything else I've read about this so far seems to indicate the total opposite.

The theory that I have heard is that a leaker may have reached out to an outside entity to hack the system, because walking out with that much data is no longer as easy as bringing in a Lady Gaga CD.