The Netherlands: Dutch companies implicated in Panama Papers tax evasion scandal - by Janene Pieters

The Netherlands: home of the so-called shell companies

Two Dutch postbox firms are implicated in the so-called “Panama Papers” – the name given to a large-scale international investigation into documents leaked from a Panama based legal consultancy. The documents revealed letterbox companies used by politicians, businessmen and sports personalities worldwide to evade taxes.

The leaked documents revealed that Panamanian legal consultancy Mossack Fonseca helped a large number of billionaires from around the world channel their money into tax havens, which means that they hardly paid any taxes. At this stage it is unclear how many people are involved.

It now seems that at least two Dutch letterbox companies – companies that establish themselves in tax friendly countries with only a postal address, while conducting business in other countries – are mentioned in the Panama Papers, according to the Financieele Dagblad. The FD and Dutch newspaper Trouw are involved in investigating the Papers.

According to FD, the two Dutch letterbox companies are “sports marketing companies named in an indictment of the American judiciary against the high bosses of FIFA”. It is believed that they played a major role in payments to sports marketing companies in Latin America. “So it is suspected that the Netherlands was the linchpin in illegal payments, bribes, to senior FIFA people.”

The Netherlands is also mentioned in the Panama Papers in other ways. Rich Dutch also make use of the structures mentioned to evade taxes. And Dutch notaries, banks and trust companies are willing to set up such structures.

More information on exactly who is involved is expected later this week.

Note Almere-Digest:  The leak of millions of documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca has again focused attention on the Netherlands as a tax haven, Dutch media say on Monday. 

According to the Volkskrant, the papers, which reveal the tax evasion strategies used by politicians, sports stars and businessmen, show that Dutch shell companies are being used to make payments on the basis of fake contracts. 

Oxfam Novib tax expert Francis Weyzig told the paper the Netherlands has played a ‘questionable role in shifting money’. 

GroenLinks MP Rik Grashoff has called for a parliamentary debate on the revelations. ‘These show how important it is that the ownership of shell companies is public and that we should eventually start tackling the perverse practice of tax evasion,’ he said. 

The secret documents were obtained by the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)

he leak of millions of documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca has again focused attention on the Netherlands as a tax haven, Dutch media say on Monday. According to the Volkskrant, the papers, which reveal the tax evasion strategies used by politicians, sports stars and businessmen, show that Dutch shell companies are being used to make payments on the basis of fake contracts. Oxfam Novib tax expert Francis Weyzig told the paper the Netherlands has played a ‘questionable role in shifting money’. GroenLinks MP Rik Grashoff has called for a parliamentary debate on the revelations. ‘These show how important it is that the ownership of shell companies is public and that we should eventually start tackling the perverse practice of tax evasion,’ he said. The documents were obtained by the German newspaper Suddeutsche Zeitung and shared with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ)

Read more at DutchNews.nl: Panama Papers leak focuses attention on Dutch shell firms http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2016/04/88080-2/

Read more: Dutch companies implicated in Panama Papers tax evasion scandal - NL Times

The Netherlands: Dutch Embassy in the US honors Kristof and McCain for human rights work

Nicholas Kristof, Cindy McCain and Dutch Ambassador
to the US,  Henne Schuwer with Anne Frank Poster

The Royal Netherlands Embassy in Washington, DC, USA and its friends in the US Congress recently honored Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof and human rights advocate Cindy McCain for their work fighting human trafficking and violations of human rights.

The ceremony took place at the US Library of Congress— and was part of the embassy’s Holland on the Hill initiative — Kristof received the Anne Frank Award, and McCain the Anne Frank Special Recognition Award.

“I’m thrilled by the award, and delighted that it shines a powerful light on issues like sex trafficking,” said Kristof, who’s written for the New York Times since 1984. “Human trafficking is one of those problems that thrives when it’s ignored, and the first step to addressing it is simply to rally attention — which the Anne Frank award does.”

Kristof has written extensively on human rights issues, using the power of the written word to raise awareness by linking human trafficking to modern slavery. Kristof’s reporting exposes trafficking and urges punishment for those responsible. His PBS documentary, “A Path Appears,” makes the viewer confront the devastating effects of human trafficking; it also explores the role poverty and gender equality play in making such trafficking possible.

More than 4.5 million people are trapped in forced sexual exploitation worldwide, says the International Labor Organization. In the United States alone, 20 percent of the 11,800 runaways reported last year were likely sex trafficking victims, according to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

Dutch Ambassador Henne Schuwer praised the “lifetime dedication” of Kristof and McCain in the defense of human rights, telling his audience that the two “embody the resilient spirit that characterizes the life of Anne Frank.”

McCain, co-chair of the McCain Institute’s Human Trafficking Advisory Council, was honored for her commitment to educate the public on human trafficking. Working with two Senate Democrats — North Dakota’s Heidi Heitkamp and Minnesota’s Amy Klobuchar — she has lobbied Congress to give the states incentives to adopt laws that emphasize prosecuting leaders of sex-trafficking rings, rather than the victims.

“I am deeply honored to be receiving this award and to share the stage with Nick Kristof,” said McCain, the wife of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). “It is so important that we continue to raise awareness for the fight against human trafficking. Even one child that is having a human trafficking experience is too many.”

Almere-Digest 

Terrorism: Study shows one-third of EU volunteer terrorists in Syria have returned home

Terrorism: report all suspicious activity to police

Almost 30 percent of EU citizens who joined the fight in Syria have returned home, according to a new study.

The study, prepared by the Hague-based International Centre for Counter-Terrorism, said that more than 4,000 Europeans had gone to fight in Syria, of whom 14 percent were confirmed dead.

French, Germans and Britons make up the highest number of foreign fighters from European countries in the ranks of armed groups in Syria, the study reported, but Belgium is the largest contributor in proportion to its population.

Europeans fighting alongside groups in Syria and Iraq have been high on the agenda of European security concerns for several years.

Returned volunteers have been involved in attacks in Paris and Brussels over the past 18 months, including last month's bomb blasts in the Belgian capital.

The study, however, maintained that "not all FF (foreign fighters) are terrorists, and not all terrorists are FF.
"Thus, not all returnees systematically present a danger to the societies to which they return," it added.

The researchers said that it was hard to understand the motivations of the returnees, but a previous study published by Dutch Security and Intelligence Service in 2014 offered various reasons for returning.

These included: "being disillusioned, being traumatised, (feelings of) betrayal, realisation of the atrocities, and regret, as well as having plans to recruit others or commit attacks in their countries of departure".

About 17 percent of them were female and 23 percent were converts to Islam, according to the latest study, published on Friday
.
Most came from urban areas or peripheral suburbs of the continent's cities.

Belgium - home to the attackers linked to last year's Paris shootings as well as last month's Brussels bombings - sent 41 fighters per million population.

Not only did Belgium contribute the most fighters compared to its population, but only 18 percent of them had returned, compared with 50 percent of those who had left from Denmark, the researchers said. Austria and Sweden followed in per capita terms.

In absolute terms, France was the largest source country for fighters who had left to fight alongside the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. The study counted more than 900 of them.

Germany and Britain also contributed large numbers.

Note EU-Digest: the unanswered question which remains  is "how have the Governments of EU member states dealt with identifying these returning terrorists?"  It is imperative that at passport and immigration control sites immigration officers become far more serious, when screening single incoming young males and females from Middle Eastern decent, than they have been so far.  

In the meantime report all suspicious activities in your neighborhood or apartment building immediately to the police, The life you save could be your own.

Read more: One-third of EU fighters in Syria returned home: Study - AJE News

International Tourism: Portland, Maine Bach Festival will help put city on map as classical music destination - by Bob Keyes

City of Portland Maine

Lewis Kaplan, co-founder and longtime artistic director of the Bowdoin International Music Festival, plans to launch an early summer classical music festival in Portland that will celebrate the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and add to Portland’s growing reputation as a destination for classical music.

The inaugural Portland Bach Festival will run June 19-24 at churches in Portland and Falmouth. One concert, “Bach and Beer,” will be scheduled outdoors on the waterfront and feature Portland craft beers.

“I just started thinking, ‘I want to do more,’ ” said Kaplan, 82, who left Bowdoin after 50 years, during which he made the festival a leader in the education and refinement of young musicians from around the globe. “I am not retired, and I thought … Portland would be a very good place to do it, that the time was right.”

Portland will now be able to boast a summer full of classical music: the Bach festival in June, PORTopera in July and the Portland Chamber Music Festival in August. In addition, the Portland Symphony Orchestra’s reputation as a regional orchestra continues to grow, and the chamber festival is expanding to year-round programming.

Kaplan, senior professor of violin and chamber music at The Juilliard School, has had a long-term love affair with Bach. The festival will include four performances in baroque and modern styles, along with lectures and master classes.

There will be collaborations among musicians from Maine, New York and Europe, as well as performances by two Maine-based chamber vocal ensembles, the Oratorio Chorale and the St. Mary Schola.
Concerts are scheduled for The Episcopal Church of St. Mary on Foreside Road in Falmouth and the intimate Emmanuel Chapel at St. Luke’s Cathedral in Portland.

Appropriate performance spaces are key to the festival’s success, said Kaplan, who lives in New York and Brunswick.

“We live in a crazy world, and that is not an outrageous statement,” he said by phone from New York. “The idea of performing in a sanctified area and people finding peace and solace with some of the greatest music ever written, is reason enough to make this festival.”

Emily Isaacson, artistic director of the Oratorio Chorale, will serve as associate artistic director of the festival. She is a Brunswick native who now lives in Portland.

The festival will enrich the cultural offerings of the city, she said.

“Portland has become a world-class city, and a world-class city deserves world-class art,” Isaacson said. “People are coming to our state to see the incredible landscape, to enjoy the charm of our cobblestone streets and to dine in our fabulous restaurants. We want them to come for world-class music as well.”

Kaplan agreed. “The New York Times just wrote about Portland as a food destination,” he said. “Many of my friends in New York are looking for a reason to come to Portland.”

The festival benefits from Kaplan’s contacts in the music world. As he did when he ran the Bowdoin festival, he has recruited a dozen “major performers” from the United States and Europe, including Ariadne Daskalakis, a baroque and modern violinist from Germany; John Ferrillo, principal oboist for the Boston Symphony Orchestra; and Beiliang Zhu, who won the first prize and the Audience Award at the International Bach Competition in Leipzig in 2012.

Maine performers are Bruce Fithian, a tenor and director of the St. Mary Schola; organist Ray Cornils; and Amanda Hardy, first oboist of the Portland Symphony. The Oratorio Chorale will serve as choir in residence.

“We want to be measured against any of the top performers in the world,” Kaplan said. “These concerts had better be damned good from the start. That’s our standard.”

Kaplan said the festival will become an annual event.

Read more: Portland Bach Festival will help put city on map as classical music destination - The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram

The Netherlands: Turkey and Europol sign Liaison Agreement

The Deputy Director of the Turkish National Police, Mr Basturk, and Europol's Deputy Director Mr Martinu today signed the Liaison Agreement between Turkey and Europol. Deputy Director Martinu expressed his
satisfaction with the possibilities this will offer to enhance cooperation with Turkish law enforcement.

'This is an important step in our relations. The Liaison Officer from Turkey will benefit from being part of a wide network of liaison officers from more than 40 states and have access to Europol expertise.

The agreement and the secondment of an officer from Turkey at our premises in the near future will benefit all parties in their fight against organized crime and terrorism

Read more: Turkey and Europol sign Liaison Agreement | Europol

EU - The Naysayers Are Wrong About Europe (Again) · Kevin O' Brien

Unity in diversity

Public displays of optimism in Europe are often discounted like faux pas or symptoms of a brain parasite. The continent’s history is long and bloody, and although it has enjoyed 70 years of relative tranquility, it’s best to keep your exuberance in check.
 
So perhaps it is fitting that an American who’s lived for more than two decades in Germany is arguing that Europe won’t just survive but will thrive despite its perfect storm of financial and currency troubles, demographic woes, right-wing resurgence and refugee chaos.

I know what you’re thinking. I’m going to dish out that old upbeat, can-do mumbo jumbo you’ve heard before. Even many Americans, stuck in their own economic funk and captives of a gridlocked, unresponsive political system, don’t believe it anymore, you might argue.

That may be true. But I’m not here to sing “Happy Days Are Here Again.” Sure, it would be easy to take the opposite tack, don the continent’s traditional black street garb and fall into a pessimistic, bohemian funk. There are many reasons to be worried.

Right-wing nationalists may take control of France.  Britain, always ambivalent toward the European Union, may leave and go rogue.

The dark side of the force is on the march on the continent, awakened by refugees. Poland and Hungary are rediscovering their inner Soviet child, talking trash again to the West.

The euro has been patched like an old tire. The financial mechanics on the continent say the roadside repair will hold, but not everyone believes them. On the eastern edge of Europe in Ukraine, Russia is gnawing on the principles of European liberal democracy, again.

Most troubling, the refugee crisis is exposing the design flaws of the European Union, a 28-nation bloc that drapes itself in the terminology of American federal control and member “states,’’ but in reality is often an opt-in, self-service club without active members.

So here, in the face of all that bad karma, is my argument for why Europe will prevail.

A big reason, perhaps the biggest, is that Germany won’t let it fail. It’s one of the big reasons why bank accounts here, 16 years on, are still denominated in euros. World-famous economists have predicted the currency’s demise since its birth. Each time, they have erred.

If Europe fails, Germany, the world’s third-largest exporter, would seize up. Given its history, Germany can’t win by going it alone. It needs open borders, foreign consumers and economic partners more than its European neighbors. It needs the European Union. Deep down, Germans and especially German businesses, know this. 

The public flogging of Angela Merkel over the refugee crisis will eventually ease as footpaths to Germany are closed. Wounded politically, Ms. Merkel will finish her term, and if she wants, win again in 2017.

If not, there are able candidates to replace her, all committed Europeans: Wolfgang Schäuble, confined to a wheelchair since 1990 after being shot by a deranged man at a campaign rally; Ursula von der Leyen, the defense minister, a physician and mother of seven with a near-Wagnerian biography, and a moderate, measured policy wonk named Friedrich Merz.

But Germany alone won’t keep Europe alive. Those uncooperative, bickering E.U. member neighbors will stare into the abyss of the refugee crisis, weigh up the trade lost by resurrecting internal borders, and bite the bullet to repair some of the E.U.’s structural flaws. 

Turkey may even help them, expediting its long-awaited entry into the bloc and European respectability. The first signs of progress may be joint control of the E.U.’s outer perimeter.

Emboldened by their ability to actually do something together, E.U. countries may move on to tackle other thorny issues, such as better coordinating the anti-terror police effort, developing a more coherent immigration strategy, and even, God forbid, taking in refugees.

Sure, you say, that’s just optimistic palaver – the equivalent of baloney in Germany – the view of someone unfamiliar with military setback and total destruction. That is true.

But nearly 20 years ago, I saw how Europe can work.

\It was in 1998 before the birth of the euro currency, when I was a journalist babysitting the high-stakes, closed-door meeting in Brussels where the first batch of euro countries were haggling over setting exchange rates for their old currencies.

National pride and national fortunes were on the line.

As big meetings often do in Europe, this one ran late, and rumors flew. Midnight passed, and by 3 a.m., the doubters seemed to be winning the day. But close to dawn, French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Helmut Kohl emerged to face the press, a little red-eyed and weary, but ready to prove the pessimists wrong once again.

Read more: The Naysayers Are Wrong About Europe (Again) · Handelsblatt Global Edition

Global Warming: Who are the Global Warming Skeptic Organizations - who also have lobbyists in Bruxelles?

Global warming is for real - Vested Interest fights change

An overwhelming majority of scientists agree — global warming is happening and human activity is the primary cause. Yet several prominent global warming skeptic organizations are actively working to sow doubt about the facts of global warming.

These organizations play a key role in the fossil fuel industry's "disinformation playbook," a strategy designed to confuse the public about global warming and delay action on climate change. Why? Because the fossil fuel industry wants to sell more coal, oil, and gas — even though the science clearly shows that the resulting carbon emissions threaten our planet.

Who are these groups? And what is the evidence linking them to the fossil fuel industry?

Here's a quick primer on several prominent global warming skeptic organizations, including examples of their disinformation efforts and funding sources from the fossil fuel industry. Many have received large donations from foundations established, and supported, by the fossil fuel billionaire Koch brothers.

American Enterprise Institute

The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) has routinely tried to undermine the credibility of climate science, despite at times affirming that the “weight of the evidence” justifies “prudent action” on climate change. [1]

For years, AEI played a role in propagating misinformation about a manufactured controversy over emails stolen from climate scientists [2], with one AEI research fellow even claiming, “There was no consensus about the extent and causes of global warming.” [3] A resident scholar at AEI went so far as to state that the profession of climate scientist “threatens to overtake all” on the list of “most distrusted occupations.” [4]

AEI received $3,615,000 from ExxonMobil from 1998-2012 [5], and more than $1 million in funding from Koch foundations from 2004-2011. [6]

Americans for Prosperity

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) frequently provides a platform for climate contrarian statements, such as “How much information refutes carbon dioxide-caused global warming? Let me count the ways.” [7]

While claiming to be a grassroots organization, AFP has bolstered its list of “activists” by hosting “$1.84 Gas” events, where consumers who receive discounts on gasoline are asked to provide their name and email address on a “petition” form. [8]

These events are billed as raising awareness about “failing energy policies” and high gasoline prices, but consumers are not told about AFP’s ties to oil interests, namely Koch Industries.
AFP has its origins in a group founded in 1984 by fossil fuel billionaires Charles and David Koch [9], and the latter Koch still serves on AFP Foundation’s board of directors [10]. Richard Fink, executive vice president of Koch Industries, also serves as a director for both AFP and AFP Foundation. [11]

Koch foundations donated $3,609,281 to AFP Foundation from 2007-2011. [12]
American Legislative Exchange Council

The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) maintains that “global climate change is inevitable” [13] and since the 1990s has pushed various forms of model legislation aimed at obstructing policies intended to reduce global warming emissions.

ALEC purports to “support the use of sound science to guide policy,” but routinely provides a one-sided platform for climate contrarians. State legislators attending one ALEC meeting were offered a workshop touting a report by a fossil fuel-funded group that declared “like love, carbon dioxide's many splendors are seemingly endless." [14, 15] Another ALEC meeting featured a Fox News contributor who has claimed on the air that carbon dioxide “literally cannot cause global warming.” [16, 17]

ALEC received more than $1.6 million from ExxonMobil from 1998-2012 [18], and more than $850,000 from Koch foundations from 1997-2011. [19]

Beacon Hill Institute at Suffolk University

From its position as the research arm of the Department of Economics at Suffolk University, the Beacon Hill Institute (BHI) has published misleading analyses of clean energy and climate change policies in more than three dozen states.

These economic analyses are at times accompanied by a dose of climate contrarianism. For example, BHI Director David Tuerck has claimed that “the very question of whether the climate is warming is in doubt…” [20] Claims such as “wind power actually increases pollution” can be found in many of BHI’s reports.

BHI has publicly acknowledged its Koch funding [21], which likely includes at least some of the approximately $725,000 the Charles G. Koch foundation contributed to Suffolk University from 2008-2011. [22]

Cato Institute

Cato acknowledges that “Global warming is indeed real…” But when it comes to the causes of global warming, Cato has sent mixed messages over the years. Cato's website, for instance, reports that “… human activity has been a contributor [to global warming] since 1975.” [23] Yet, on the same topic of whether human activity is responsible for global warming, Cato’s vice president has written: “We don’t know.” [24]

Patrick Michaels, Director of Cato’s Center for the Study of Science, has referred to the latest Draft National Climate Assessment Report as “the stuff of fantasy.” [25] The most recent edition of Cato’s “Handbook for Policymakers” advises that Congress should “pass no legislation restricting emissions of carbon dioxide.” [26]

Charles Koch co-founded Cato in 1977. Both Charles and David Koch were among the four “shareholders” who “owned” Cato until 2011 [27], and the latter Koch remains a member of Cato’s Board of Directors. [28] Koch foundations contributed more than $5 million to Cato from 1997-2011. [29]

Competitive Enterprise Institute

The Competitive Enterprise Institute has at times acknowledged that “Global warming is a reality.” [30] But CEI has also routinely disputed that global warming is a problem, contending that “There is no ‘scientific consensus’ that global warming will cause damaging climate change.”  [31]

These kinds of claims are nothing new for CEI. Back in 1991, CEI was claiming that “The greatest challenge we face is not warming, but cooling.” [32] More recently, CEI produced an ad calling for higher levels of carbon dioxide. [33] One CEI scholar even publicly compared a prominent climate scientist to convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky. [34]

CEI received around $2 million in funding from ExxonMobil from 1995-2005 [35], though ExxonMobil made a public break with CEI in 2007 after coming under scrutiny from UCS and other groups for its funding of climate contrarian organizations. CEI has also received funding from Koch foundations, dating back to the 1980s. [36] 

Heartland Institute

While claiming to stand up for “sound science,” the Heartland Institute has routinely spread misinformation about climate science, including deliberate attacks on climate scientists. [37]

Popular outcry forced the Heartland Institute to pull down a controversial billboard that compared supporters of global warming facts to Unabomber Ted Kaczynski [38], bringing an early end to a planned campaign first announced in an essay by Heartland President Joseph Bast, which claimed “… the most prominent advocates of global warming aren’t scientists. They are murderers, tyrants, and madmen.” [39]

Heartland even once marked Earth Day by mailing out 100,000 free copies of a book claiming that “climate science has been corrupted” [40] – despite acknowledging that “…all major scientific organizations of the world have taken the official position that humankind is causing global warming.”

Heartland received more than $675,000 from ExxonMobil from 1997-2006 [41]. Heartland also raked in millions from the Koch-funded organization Donors Trust through 2011. [42, 43]

Heritage Foundation

While maintaining that “Science should be used as one tool to guide climate policy,” the Heritage Foundation often uses rhetoric such as “far from settled” to sow doubt about climate science. [44, 45, 46, 47] One Heritage report even claimed that “The only consensus over the threat of climate change that seems to exist these days is that there is no consensus.” [48]

Vocal climate contrarians, meanwhile, are described as “the world’s best scientists when it comes to the climate change study” in the words of one Heritage policy analyst. [49]

Heritage received more than $4.5 million from Koch foundations from 1997-2011. [50] ExxonMobil contributed $780,000 to the Heritage Foundation from 2001-2012. ExxonMobil continues to provide annual contributions to the Heritage Foundation, despite making a public pledge in 2007 to stop funding climate contrarian groups. [51, 52]

Institute for Energy Research

The term “alarmism” is defined by Mirriam-Webster as “the often unwarranted exciting of fears or warning of danger.” So when Robert Bradley, CEO and founder of the Institute for Energy Research (IER), and others at his organization routinely evoke the term “climate alarmism” they do so to sow doubt about the urgency of global warming.

IER claims that public policy “should be based on objective science, not emotion or improbable scenarios ” But IER also claims that the sense of urgency for climate action is due not to the science that shows the real and growing conequences of global warming. Rather, IER suggests that researchers “exacerbate the sense [that] policies are urgently needed” for monetary gain, noting that “issues that are perceived to be an imminent crisis can mean more funding.” [53]

IER has received funding from both ExxonMobil [54] and the Koch brothers [55].

Manhattan Institute for Policy Research

The Manhattan Institute has acknowledged that the “scientific consensus is that the planet is warming,” while at the same time maintaining that “… accounts of climate change convey a sense of certitude that is probably unjustified.” [56]

“The science is not settled, not by a long shot,” Robert Bryce, a Manhattan Institute senior fellow has written in the Wall Street Journal [57]. At other times Bryce has expressed indifference to the science on climate change. “I don’t know who’s right. And I really don’t care,” he wrote in one book. [58]

The Manhattan Institute has received $635,000 from ExxonMobil since 1998 [59], with annual contributions continuing as of 2012, and nearly $2 million from Koch foundations from 1997-2011. [60] 

Read more : Global Warming Skeptic Organizations | Union of Concerned Scientists