https://www.scmp.com/rss/301106/feed On April 4, 2013, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) began leaking the details of 2 million emails and other documents naming prominent public figures from around the world who were concealing their wealth through the offshore tax haven of the British Virgin Islands. Based on this leak, the ICIJ released a report focussing on China's elite on January 22, 2014. en https://assets.i-scmp.com/static/img/icons/scmp-meta-1200x630.png https://www.scmp.com International wealth managers in Hong Kong, especially private banks from Switzerland, are tightening their background checks on potential mainland clients, particularly those with important political ties. The moves have prevented a number of wealthy mainlanders from opening offshore accounts in Hong Kong, people in the financial industry familiar with the situation told the South China Morning Post. Hugo Williamson, managing director of Risk Resolution Group, a British risk consultancy, said... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/1516079/tighter-scrutiny-potential-mainland-clients-banks-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/1516079/tighter-scrutiny-potential-mainland-clients-banks-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 20 May 2014 03:15:45 +0000 The ICIJ this week has revealed that the relatives of a number of current and former members of China's top leadership have offshore bank accounts, in an unprecedented exposure for the Communist Party. While offshore accounts do not imply illegal behaviour per se, the report comes at a crucial moment in China's ongoing debate on the wealth amassed by family members of China's top leaders. It coincides with the trial of Xu Zhiyong, the founder of the New Citizen Movement, a grass-roots campaign... https://www.scmp.com/infographics/article/1412376/symphony-scandal-significance-icij-leaks-timing?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/infographics/article/1412376/symphony-scandal-significance-icij-leaks-timing?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 24 Jan 2014 03:00:45 +0000 Relatives of at least five current and former members of China's top leadership are shareholders in many offshore companies, allowing them to conceal their assets, according to a report from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). While being a shareholder in an offshore company doesn't constitute a crime or indicate wrongdoing, the report from the US-based group was released at a crucial moment. For the last year, President Xi Jinping's administration has said it would... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1411335/chinas-elite-hiding-billions-overseas-us-report-says?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1411335/chinas-elite-hiding-billions-overseas-us-report-says?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Jan 2014 23:30:45 +0000 Two members of the government's Commission on Poverty failed to declare ties to companies registered in the secretive tax haven of the British Virgin Islands (BVI), leaked documents show. Research by the South China Morning Post into a trove of 2.5 million documents passed to the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) revealed that tycoon Henry Cheng Kar-shun and Federation of Trade Unions president Lam Shuk-yee were among 12,600 Hongkongers with interests in the BVI.... https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/1411334/chinaleaks-hong-kong-anti-poverty-duo-failed-declare-ties?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/1411334/chinaleaks-hong-kong-anti-poverty-duo-failed-declare-ties?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Jan 2014 16:00:15 +0000 Li Xiaolin, the daughter of former Chinese premier Li Peng who now heads China Power International Development (CPI),  was "born with a mission" to run the Hong Kong-listed company, state newspaper China Enterprises reported this week. The flattering piece, however, drew fierce criticism on Wednesday as Li Xiaolin's name appeared in a tax-haven report by investigative journalists which revealed the secret offshore holdings of the close relatives of China's current or former top leaders. The... https://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1410954/flattering-profile-li-xiaolin-ex-premiers-daughter-draws-flak?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1410954/flattering-profile-li-xiaolin-ex-premiers-daughter-draws-flak?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Jan 2014 04:15:00 +0000 On Wednesday, a group of investigative journalists released the initial results of an investigation into some 20,000 offshore bank accounts by people with addresses in Hong Kong and the mainland. The South China Morning Post discussed the implications of the leak with Clark Gascoigne, spokesperson for the Washington DC-based think tank Global Financial Integrity (GFI), which has been tracking global illicit money flows since 2006. What was your initial reaction to the report on the Chinese... https://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1410929/china-biggest-exporter-illicit-capital-says-watchdog-group?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1410929/china-biggest-exporter-illicit-capital-says-watchdog-group?utm_source=rss_feed Wed, 22 Jan 2014 02:45:45 +0000 Relatives of at least five current and former members of China’s top leadership have been exposed as having offshore accounts, as part of a revelatory report by investigative journalists. The leak, part of a package of 2.5 million files obtained by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, points to nearly 22,000 offshore clients with addresses in mainland China and Hong Kong and 16,000 offshore clients from Taiwan. "China has become a leading market for offshore havens that... https://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1410840/chinaleaks-expose-chinese-elites-offshore-accounts-comes?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china-insider/article/1410840/chinaleaks-expose-chinese-elites-offshore-accounts-comes?utm_source=rss_feed Tue, 21 Jan 2014 23:30:15 +0000 A massive database of private offshore banking entities that could be used for tax evasion was posted online for public use on Friday by the muckraking group that first reported the files. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists said anyone can now search the records of some 100,000 companies, trusts and funds located in leading tax havens to see who could be making use of them to skirt home-country taxes. The group said it was doing so in the name of public interest and also... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1261636/massive-database-reveals-offshore-banking-entities-could-be-used-tax?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1261636/massive-database-reveals-offshore-banking-entities-could-be-used-tax?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 15 Jun 2013 12:37:52 +0000 The UK’s 100 biggest public companies are running more than 8,000 subsidiaries or joint ventures in onshore and offshore tax havens, according to research published on Monday (12MAY), raising fresh concerns about the full extent of corporate tax avoidance. The figures, published by the charity ActionAid, show that only two of the companies listed on the UK’s FTSE 100 have no subsidiaries in tax havens - while companies such as Barclays and Tesco own hundreds. Corporate use of offshore... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1236823/top-british-firms-condemned-prolific-use-tax-havens?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1236823/top-british-firms-condemned-prolific-use-tax-havens?utm_source=rss_feed Mon, 13 May 2013 08:28:31 +0000 The British Virgin Islands has chosen Hong Kong as its headquarters for a new push into the Asian market as it faces a global storm linked to a massive leak of client data and claims of secrecy, tax evasion and hiding assets. Next month, the leader of the British overseas territory - reckoned to be home to more than 40 per cent of the world's offshore registered companies - will be in Hong Kong to open an official investment arm in the city. In an exclusive interview with the South China Morning... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1213467/british-virgin-islands-picks-hong-kong-be-its-asia-hub?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1213467/british-virgin-islands-picks-hong-kong-be-its-asia-hub?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000 The British Virgin Islands (BVI) will set up its Asian headquarters in Hong Kong next month despite a worldwide outcry against tax havens after many of its rich clients’ information has been leaked by an investigative journalist group. In an exclusive interview with the South China Morning Post, Elise Donovan, the executive director of BVI International Finance Centre, which is a government body that promotes financial services, said the island’s Premier and Finance Minister Orlando Smith would... https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1212993/bvi-tax-haven-set-asia-headquarters-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1212993/bvi-tax-haven-set-asia-headquarters-hong-kong?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 12 Apr 2013 07:48:42 +0000 A majority of the French favour a government reshuffle in the aftermath of a scandal that forced the budget minister to resign after lying about a secret foreign bank account, a poll showed on Sunday. French President Francois Hollande and his finance minister have spent the past week fending off accusations of a cover-up after former budget minister Jerome Cahuzac admitted lying about a secret 600,000-euro (HK$6m) foreign bank account and was placed under formal investigation by... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1209332/frances-hollande-under-pressure-reshuffle-government-after-scandal-poll?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1209332/frances-hollande-under-pressure-reshuffle-government-after-scandal-poll?utm_source=rss_feed Sun, 07 Apr 2013 12:35:22 +0000 The US-based International Consortium of Investigative Journalists has refused to give government agencies access to more than 2.5 million documents revealing secret bank accounts belonging to high-profile, powerful people around the world. Many accounts are linked to wealthy residents from the mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, with assets hidden in a complex web of shell companies in tax havens such as the Caymans and British Virgin Islands. The centre's director, Australian investigative... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1208842/journalism-group-icij-snubs-requests-access-bank-account-data?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1208842/journalism-group-icij-snubs-requests-access-bank-account-data?utm_source=rss_feed Sat, 06 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000 The massive haul of leaked financial information on offshore havens by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) will spur anti-corruption efforts in China and other nations, analysts say. In one of the biggest information leaks in history, an investigation by the United States-based ICIJ has gathered more than two million documents naming businessmen and politicians with financial dealings through secretive firms in offshore havens such as the British Virgin... https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1208122/tax-haven-leak-will-spur-graft-probes-analysts-say?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/1208122/tax-haven-leak-will-spur-graft-probes-analysts-say?utm_source=rss_feed Fri, 05 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000 An investigation into an offshore tax haven that is exposing secret accounts held by the wealthy around the world began when a computer hard drive packed with corporate data arrived in the post at the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ). Its director, Gerard Ryle, obtained the small black box as a result of his three-year investigation of Australia's Firepower scandal, a case involving offshore havens and corporate fraud. Scroll down for live tweets The hard drive... https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1207319/hard-disk-gave-investigators-data-expose-tax-havens-account-holders?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1207319/hard-disk-gave-investigators-data-expose-tax-havens-account-holders?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000 Some of the wealthiest and most powerful people in Hong Kong, on the mainland and elsewhere in the world are watching nervously as the identities of those holding accounts in the offshore haven of the British Virgin Islands (BVI) are being exposed in what is described as the biggest information leak in recent history. More than two million documents naming many individuals and detailing their financial exploits have leaked from the British Virgin Islands to the US-based International Consortium... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1207265/hong-kongs-rich-face-exposure-tax-haven-leak?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1207265/hong-kongs-rich-face-exposure-tax-haven-leak?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000 A huge trove of tax-haven data uncovered by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) is the result of a three-year investigation by its director, Gerard Ryle, into one of Australia's biggest frauds. That fraud involved a Hong Kong-based firm called Firepower International and offshore havens. Through connections with Australian officials, the governments of Britain, Russia, Romania and other nations were persuaded to believe Firepower had solutions to global warming and... https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1207272/hong-kong-firm-core-fraud-sparked-investigation-tax-havens?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/hong-kong/article/1207272/hong-kong-firm-core-fraud-sparked-investigation-tax-havens?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Apr 2013 16:00:00 +0000 The Philippine government said on Thursday it planned to investigate an allegation that the eldest daughter of late dictator Ferdinand Marcos was the beneficiary of a secret offshore trust. A report published by the Philippine Centre for Investigative Journalism alleged Imee Marcos, 57, now a provincial governor, had failed to declare the British Virgin Islands trust as legally required. The revelation was part of a collaborative leak by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists... https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1207023/philippines-probe-secret-marcos-offshore-trust-after-leaks-expose-rich-who?utm_source=rss_feed https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/article/1207023/philippines-probe-secret-marcos-offshore-trust-after-leaks-expose-rich-who?utm_source=rss_feed Thu, 04 Apr 2013 09:29:30 +0000