A good case study of how offshore shell companies are used comes from the Al-Yamamah deal…

But the MoD was still lobbying abroad on BAE’s behalf and running huge government-to-government contracts, particularly the Saudi al-Yamamah deal.

Instead of fulfilling their international promises, officials merely tried to put more distance between themselves and the companies doing the bribery.

What it did was not illegal, but the firm constructed what might well be called a global money-laundering machine.

The system was run from a secure block, Warwick House, at BAE’s Farnborough premises. “HQ Marketing Services ” was headed by Hugh Dickinson, who was also responsible for company liaison with MI6. His long-serving deputy was Julia Aldridge.

For a supposedly reputable public company, the methods used were surprising.

Britain’s Serious Fraud Office later concluded: “The whole system is maintained in such conditions of secrecy that there is a legitimate suspicion concerning the real purpose of the payments.”

BAE set up a front company called Novelmight Ltd. With the help of the Swiss branch of its bankers, Lloyds TSB, the firm discreetly rented a high-security office in Geneva, on the sixth floor of a block at 48 Route des Acacias.

Video surveillance cameras were installed, along with an encrypted fax and phone system. A specialist from the UK was flown out to sweep the vault for bugs. Then, just before Britain signed up to the OECD convention in 1997, the filing cabinets and safes containing the agent details were loaded into a van and driven by trusted staff from Farnborough to Geneva.

BAE added a new layer of concealment when the convention came into force in 1999. Novelmight was officially closed down as a UK-registered subsidiary.

But it was secretly re-registered as an offshore entity in the British Virgin Islands, a financial “black hole” in the Caribbean where beneficial ownership can be hidden. Now there was apparently no paperwork at all to link BAE with Novelmight.

When the agreements were ready to be made or renewed, Dickinson or Aldridge flew to Geneva and unlocked the office at Route des Acacias for the signing.

The contracts were kept in Geneva and could only be inspected there.

The purpose of these tortuous arrangements seems to have been to ensure that nothing questionable involving the hiring of agents took place within UK legal jurisdiction.

But a further secret payment system was also needed for BAE to transfer large sums in cash to those agents.

BAE used offshore front companies once again. In February 1998, “Red Diamond Trading Ltd” was anonymously incorporated in the British Virgin Islands. It was used to channel payments all over the world, via Red Diamond accounts in London, Switzerland and New York.

We have traced secret payments going to agents in South America, Tanzania, Romania, South Africa, Qatar, Chile and the Czech Republic.

The next year, BAE set up a second front company, purely to handle the Saudi commission payments for al-Yamamah. “Poseidon Trading Investments Ltd” was incorporated in the British Virgin Islands on June 25 1999.

Those close to it say more than £1bn has passed through its accounts to Saudi agents, in transfers made by Lloyds TSB.

A different method was used to disguise corrupt benefits for Saudi officials who went on vacation trips to the US and Europe. This was what became known as BAE’s “slush fund”.

Bear in mind that’s just a snapshot of a vastly complex international network… which is of course linked to this:

[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91UbgEXq0sE[/video]

and sewing the seeds that led to the terror attacks that have been suffered around the world.

No you don’t

Every basic rate taxpayer in the UK now has a Personal Savings Allowance of £1,000. This means that the first £1,000 of savings interest earned in a year is tax-free.

Or are you telling us that you have circa £330k at say 0.3% in your measly savings account and are earning more than £1,000 p.a. interest?

appologies

my savings account has a column for tax, its always 0, just assumed it was coz my savings were so low & the interest tiny!

apologies

my savings account has a column for tax, its always 0, just assumed it was coz my savings were so low & the interest tiny!

Accepted

It’s entirely unsurprising that megacorps are bending things their way, and Lewis Hamilton and his ilk have made no secret of living elsewhere for tax purposes and his lifestyle probably takes him towards non-dom status.

What bugged me was the content here (https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/nov/06/james-o-toole-tax-alchemist-assets-uk-paradise-papers) where people who were clearly resident and working in the UK transferred their assets and became advisors for the schemes that owned those assets.

On another occasion, he told the law firm he had been wearing a £25,000 Rolex that belonged to his cell company.

“To ensure HMRC do not try to tax me on this as some form of benefit … I think it sensible for me to pay a rent for wearing the watch of £50 per month. I will make a payment of £300 covering back rent and set up a standing order covering future payments,” he said.

In response to an email from a client asking when some money would arrive in his account, O’Toole warned: “Can I ask there are no personal pronouns used in written correspondence please guys. Technically, the account belongs to a cell company which belongs to a trust. ‘The’ account, ‘the cell account’; anything buy [sic] ‘my’ account please.”

Bent.

This sums up my thoughts quite nicely:

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/nov/06/the-guardian-view-on-the-paradise-papers-a-light-on-murky-dealings

If it is all legal and above board, why the secrecy?

Good to see bono’s name popping up in there.

Telling governments the world over to spend our taxes to help the poor, whilst he squirrels away money offshore.

The hypocrisy of the man is disgusting..

Good to see bono’s name popping up in there.

Telling governments the world over to spend our taxes to help the poor, whilst he squirrels away money offshore.

The hypocrisy of the man is disgusting..

Yup, champagne swilling socialist dick’ead of the highest order.

Amen to that..

Rich millionaires telling us we are not donating enough is bad enough.. But it’s the hypocrisy that really grates

Why do people care more about benefit ‘scroungers’ than billions lost to the rich?

I would like to know why too.

People equate hard work with money and laziness with lack of. So they assume those with wealth have worked hard rather than have been fortunate.

It’s easier to spit on someone below you.