Thread by @alexcobham

Day two #tjn19 underway, with a plenary session on lawyers as enablers of tax abuse and financial crime. @SolPicciotto moderating presentations from Daniel Ostas, @JorumDuri, @_ClairQuentin and Santtu Raitasuo

Livestreaming #tjn19 today via taxjustice.net/tjn19/ (and open for questions via slido on that link too). Great sessions coming up, including on wealth taxation and whistleblowing

https://twitter.com/James_Mowatt/status/1146334585409679360

A video presentation from @JorumDuri now focuses on the responsibilities of lawyers in respect of the fees they accept, comparing the criminalisation of receiving dirty money in Namibia and Zimbabwe #tjn19
airtable.com/shrIZhVqrmAzzV…

Key point from Daniel Ostas' paper: ethics should require self-restraint in tax matters #tjn19 airtable.com/shrIZhVqrmAzzV…

First questions from a former UK law enforcement intelligence officer and now former MEP @AnaGomesMEP - focusing on the deeper role of lawyers in crime and in lobbying against progressive change #tjn19

Ostas: 'it seems like there are enablers everywhere, including courts and lobbyists. At least the @TaxJusticeNet is pushing back' #tjn19

Further comment about the issue of client confidentiality; and, from @robertnpalmer on failure of bar associations to take action against own members - how do you get accountability for lawyers? #tjn19

.@MattiKohonen queries the lack of discussion of human rights law, including in US tax law - could be an avenue to override abuses? @SolPicciotto asks Ostas whether we can push judges on normative decisions, with ethical implications.
#tjn19

Ostas highlights jurisprudence text from right-wing US judge who 'saw the light', on how they made court decisions; and moral reflections of Adam Smith #tjn19

Now @_ClairQuentin presents an argument that tax legal opinion should be seen as an asset class: 'In recent years it has emerged that certain high-status UK tax lawyers (tax ‘QCs’) have been giving falsely optimistic opinions about the viability of tax planning...' #tjn19

'Schrodinger's legal opinion: you don't know if it's right until it's challenged - if it's challenged' #tjn19

Legal opinion at different stages can mitigate or exacerbate tax risk (faced by the exchequer, not only the taxpayer) #tjn19

Santtu Raitasuo (with @mattiylonen) address how legal scholars facilitate avoidance, Finnish case study:
'by achieving positions of trust in academia, tax consultancy firms gain gatekeeper roles that facilitate corporate-friendly research and subdue critical arguments' #tjn19

Striking evidence on the range of scholarly efforts around the particular case #tjn19

Would be very interested to hear from #taxtwitter elsewhere (eg UK) if this Finnish case seems familiar? #tjn19

Discussion now focusing very much on the nature and extent of lawyers' privileges, and potential counter-measures. #tjn19

Gerry Liston from GLAN now briefly presenting a couple of potential avenues for legal challenges to support tax justice #tjn19

The idea of challenging the basis for City of London's excessive political representation, and exemption from legislation, is a very interesting one. #tjn19

Mary Inman, whistleblower lawyer, opens the whistleblower panel by noting the importance of whistleblowing to tax justice, from LuxLeaks to Danske Bank, and that @TaxJusticeNet itself was set up by whistleblower @jechristensen56 #tjn19

Great panel, starting now with Michael Woodford who blew the whistle on Olympus - of which he had been president #tjn19 airtable.com/shrIZhVqrmAzzV…

Meanwhile, at the parallel session on wealth tax #tjn19

https://twitter.com/TaxJusticeUK/status/1146364383930589185

Joohyun Baek now lays out the South Korean tax authority's two whistleblowing incentive schemes - one since 1951, one newer focused on foreign financial accounts #tjn19 airtable.com/shrIZhVqrmAzzV…

Joohyun Baek shows the growth of whistleblower payments (reaching c. $11m in 2017) #tjn19

Georgina Halford-Hall @WB_UK outlines the development - or lack of it - of a whistleblower culture. 'Whistleblowers are neither heroes or villains, just people doing their job. We need to shift the paradigm, and normalise this.' #tjn19 airtable.com/shrIZhVqrmAzzV…

(broke thread)

https://twitter.com/alexcobham/status/1146371749539405825

Georgina Halford-Hall @WB_UK laying out the ambition of the UK MPs in the APPG, putting forward proposals including an independent office of the whistleblower

Mary Inman tells a story of FoI challenge to uncover that in the UK, the tax authority paid out £400k and £300k in the last two years to whistleblowers. Very concerning that they would almost seek to hide the scheme, and not to publish any yield info. Quite unlike the US #tjn19

...and yet UK is the number 1 source of whistleblowers for the US. Why aren't we doing it for ourselves?? #tjn19

Michael Woodford responds to @AlexJacobs16 question on role of the big 4 firms, says they are central - they can't not know, and indeed they are part of the problem. And have tried to stop me talking about their role, stopping media - but have never sued me for saying this #tjn19

Now Krishen Mehta is opening the session on bankers as enablers, explaining his transition from PwC partner to @TaxJusticeNet board member #tjn19

It's a great panel. First up, Mary Young from UWE and one of our senior advisors: 'Building Potemkin Villages: The construction of AML policies in the UK and Europe (1987-present)' #tjn19
airtable.com/shrIZhVqrmAzzV…

Fascinating to see in 1987 a fight to limit international anti-money laundering measures to *criminal* rather than *illegal* activities - so that EU banks can continue to enjoy the proceeds of tax evasion. #tjn19

[There's a clear parallel to the current lobbying efforts, thirty years later, to subvert SDG 16.4 be retrospectively reinterpreting 'illicit' as = 'illegal' - in this case, in order to remove multinationals' tax avoidance from scope] #tjn19

Young: 'at every level from 1987 onwards, commercial interests protecting the UK banking industry have superseded all efforts to prevent tax abuse - leading to the creation of an AML framework by bankers and HMT without law enforcement officers' #tjn19

Now @ecuarauz - former minister and central banker in Ecuador - presents a ranking of offshore banks #tjn19 airtable.com/shrIZhVqrmAzzV…

Interesting slide from @ecuarauz on the jurisdictions with which Cayman compares itself for banking #tjn19

And an offshore banking ranking - the usual suspects? #tjn19

Now Stanford scholar and former hedge funder @mtobiasneely presenting #tjn19 on the views of hedge fund workers on taxation,regulation and inequality airtable.com/shrIZhVqrmAzzV…

Fascinating insights into the psychological justifications of hedge funders - their perceived contribution to market efficiency, vs the 'game' of circumventing regulation; impacts on inequality vs eg philanthropic commitments #tjn19

Q&A #tjn19: Dr Young replies to @robertnpalmer that David Cameron's efforts on anti-corruption/AML have been pathetic, futile, leaving overseas territories etc untouched

Ronen Palan asks #tjn19 if the offshore banks ranked are all onshore banks with offshore operations.
@ecuarauz: Of 133 in Cayman, c.130 are offshore subs of bigger countries, including some from lower-income countries (e.g. Brazil has c.10).

Dr Neely #tjn19 answers a question about hedge fund workers' 'normalisation' techniques. Then @submergingmkt calls for the singling out a few big players - e.g. BlackRock? Rentech? Would their workers' attitudes align with society?

.@ecuarauz Hedge funds prefer Cayman (around 80% in last decade established there); zero income tax, absolute freedom of capital movement etc. - only prevented from engaging with the local population(!). Inverse of usual capital controls. #tjn19

.@ecuarauz Cayman responsible for major share of the $5tn offshore assets in US - and Cayman reports that 80% of their own inflows are from 'developed countries'; mainly US roundtripping? #tjn19

Shanna Lima now moderating a parallel session #tjn19 on financial secrecy, featuring Andres Knobel, @Economist_Aston, @sakshirai92 and @miropalansky

Andres Knobel kicks off on 'Beneficial ownership verification: ensuring the truthfulness and accuracy of registered ownership information' airtable.com/shrIZhVqrmAzzV… #tjn19

Andres Knobel #tjn19 really giving a masterclass on the validation, verification, registration requirements for serious beneficial ownership data

Now @Economist_Aston presenting on the use of tax havens by UK multinationals #tjn19 - with policy context including major cuts to @HMRCgovuk headcount

Paper tests the effect of media stories, and of HMRC cuts, on tax haven use by UK multinationals... #tjn19

Key findings! #tjn19
* An extra 1000 tax inspectors reduces the probability of using an offshore tax haven by 0.2% when evaluated at the mean. [HMRC headcount fell 15,000.​]
* An extra 100 media headlines that include term 'tax haven' increases(!) use by 5%.

Now @miropalansky on 'How tax havens and secrecy jurisdictions specialise with the help of intermediaries' #tjn19 airtable.com/shrIZhVqrmAzzV…

Brilliant paper looking at the relationship between haven scores (from the Corporate Tax Haven Index), secrecy scores (from Financial Secrecy Index), the presence of the big 4 firms, and the degree of activity in financial centres. Correlation is not causation but...! #tjn19

Now @sakshirai92 presenting on 'Geopolitics of financial secrecy in Asia' #tjn19 airtable.com/shrIZhVqrmAzzV…

Highlights importance of English common law to Asian financial secrecy jurisdictions.

Aside: Kazakhs speak Kazakh and Russian. Astana International Financial Centre conducts business in English - and all meetings to inauguration took place in London. Is not in oecd CRS. #tjn19

.@DanHaberly asks whether there is any evidence of jurisdictions picking up English common law but *not* secrecy etc?
@sakshirai92 says not - the model is Dubai, or in some cases Singapore
#tjn19

OK, coffee coming up - join us in half an hour for the closing #tjn19 plenary, on 'Enablers, states and international governance' featuring @sasquatch_sck, Leyla Ates, Kumiko Tsuda and @amedeorizzo21 airtable.com/shrIZhVqrmAzzV…

Here we go! Livestreaming at taxjustice.net/tjn19/ as our board member @CharlesAbugre leads off the final plenary #tjn19

#tjn19 @AmedeoRizzo21 presenting on the networks that underpin the EU policy responses and potential on tax

Now @sasquatch_sck on multinationals' tax avoidance - and why progress hasn't been made, including institutional inertia, and what that means for the tax justice reform movement #tjn19

Kumiko Tsuda addresses the role of multinational and big 4 lobbying against (public) country-by-country reporting #tjn19

#tjn19 closing with a @markusmeinzer and @TR_Tax_Prof double act on the new Corporate Tax Haven Index - noting the valuable support of the @COFFERSEU cross-EU research project

And.... We're done! See you next year in Senegal with @TaxJusticeAfric! #tjn19 #tjn20

https://twitter.com/TaxJusticeNet/status/1146458763077083137?s=19

(I'm very lucky to be able to do something I love. But even more so to be able to do it as part of such a magnificent group of people, in the team and the wider movement. Thanks all)