Download Corruption and Safe Havens

Kingdom of Morocco
The Head of Government
6th IAACA ANNUAL CONFERENCE & GENERAL MEETING
Kuala Lumpur, 4 – 7 October 2012
Denial of Safe Havens:
What Role for Anti-Corruption Authorities?
- 5 October 2012 -
Abdesselam ABOUDRAR
Chairman of the Central Authority
for Corruption Prevention in Morocco
Content
I. The Scourge of Safe Havens
II. Corruption and Safe Havens
III. International Initiatives
IV.How Anti-Corruption Authorities
contribute in Tackling Safe Havens?
can
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I.
The Scourge of Safe Havens
 Tax Haven criteria according to the OECD:
 Nil or only nominal taxes
 Lack of transparency
 Laws or administrative practices preventing an effective exchange
of information with other governments or taxpayers benefiting from
the first criteria
 The absence of a requirement that the activity is substantial
 “A composite tax structure established deliberately to take
advantage of, and exploit, a worldwide demand for opportunities
to engage in tax avoidance,…”, Geoffrey Colin Powell (former
Economic Adviser to Jersey)
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I.
The Scourge of Safe Havens
 The difficulty to differentiate between a Tax haven and a Free
Trade Zone (Tax incentives to attract offshore capital) or a Free
Tax Zone
 The difficulty to access information: bank secrecy
 The difficulty to make some countries sign Tax Information
Exchange Agreements with other countries
 The absence of efficient bilateral or multilateral legal tools to
tackle tax havens
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I.
The Scourge of Safe Havens
 Tax Justice Network Report 2012:
 21 to 32 trillion USD sheltered from taxes in tax havens worldwide
→ An annual loss in revenues estimated between 190 and 280
billion USD
→ Many countries would become creditors instead of being
debitors if the money of their tax evaders would be taxed
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II. Corruption and Safe Havens
 The existence of gaps in the World Accounting Order
which is no longer adapted to the fast changing markets,
promotes fraud and corruption
 Corruption distorts the nature of financial transactions
and contributes to unfounded speculation
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II. Corruption and Safe Havens
 The existence of safe havens encourages
corruption by providing a framework for money
laundering
 The bank secrecy and the difficulty of recovering
corruption proceeds encourage corrupt officials to
secure their money in safe havens
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II. Corruption and Safe Havens
Strange facts: some Safe Havens have high CPI ranks and Scores!
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II. Corruption and Safe Havens
 Examples of Safe Havens with High CPI Rank and score:
 5: Singapore (9.2)
 8: Switzerland (8.8)
 11: Luxembourg (8.5)
 12: Hong Kong (8.4)
 19: Ireland (7.5)
 21: Bahamas (7.3)
 25: Saint Lucia (7)
 32: Taiwan (6.1)
 39: Malta (5.6)
 44: Dominica (5.2)
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III. International Initiatives
 The UNCAC: Global Anti-corruption convention  provides a
framework in the areas of mutual legal assistance and asset recovery
Listing of Safe Havens:
 G20-OECD: tax havens blacklist based on compliance with an
“internationally agreed tax standard”
 FATF-GAFI: blacklist of “Non-Cooperative Countries or Territories”
perceived to be non-cooperative in the global fight against money
laundering and terrorist financing
 The OLAF Anti-Fraud Communicators Network (OAFCN): a European
platform of authorities fighting fraud and corruption involving EU public
funds  exchange of information and informing the citizens
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IV. The role of Anti-Corruption Authorities in Tackling Safe Havens
Anti-Corruption Authorities can play a major role in tackling
Safe Havens by:
 Putting pressure on their government for the implementation of
international or regional conventions on the fight against corruption and tax
havens (UNCAC – OECD – Council of Europe…)  international
cooperation in the areas of extradition, mutual legal assistance and asset
recovery
 Elaborating effective tools and laws aiming at preventing corrupt officials
from securing corruption proceeds in Safe Havens
 Working in cooperation with Local Financial Intelligence Units to make
their countries sign Tax Information Exchange Agreements with other
countries
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IV. The role of Anti-Corruption Authorities in Tackling Safe Havens
Anti-Corruption Authorities can play a major role in tackling
Safe Havens by:
 Ensuring that their countries are working on complying with
International Tax Standards
 Providing a Legal Framework for the protection of witnesses and
whistlelowers
 Developing databases and making them available to the authorities
in charge of Law Enforcement
 Generalizing the use of communication technology in the exchange
of information
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Thank you for your attention.
[email protected]
www.icpc.ma
www.stopcorruption.ma
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