Let’s put some of what this video shines a light on, in the contest of the British economy…..
GOING DUTCH
Having exposed Britain’s biggest tax avoidance scheme, run by Vodafone, the Eye can reveal number two: an equally clever offshore wheeze operated by the country’s largest bank, HSBC.
Since 2002, the colonial-era bank that moved its headquarters to London in 1993 as the price of acquiring Midland Bank has been operating a huge tax avoidance structure that has so far cost the British taxpayer £2bn.
Now for a real shocker! And if you are up to a bit of research look at their connections to
JP Morgan and the biggest fraud in history.
Otherwise we see here the fraudsters are on the boards at tresury level that set government policy…..
PS At the heart of HSBC’s offshore setup – which produces its phenomenally low overall tax rates (5.4 percent in 2009) – is tax director Chris Spooner, whose presence as a founding director of HSBC Asia Holdings BV betrays the tax motivation behind the company. The same Mr Spooner sits on the Treasury “liaison committee” that has just successfully persuaded the government to relax the rules governing offshore profits.
PPS Presiding over the industrial-scale tax dodging was HSBC’s chief executive from 2003 to 2006, then chairman until this month, ordained Anglican priest Stephen Green, whose £6m-worth of HSBC shares and £1.25m salary were enhanced by every penny of tax avoided. He was also a director of the Hong Kong bank. Green’s personal output includes books Good Value and Serving God? Serving Mammon?, which eased his ennoblement and his new job as a government business minister, Vince Cable drooling: “In Stephen we will be appointing a minister with a long career as a leading international banker, one of the few to emerge with credit from the recent financial crisis, and somebody who has set out a powerful philosophy for ethical business.” The same St Vincent this month baulked at Cadbury’s new owner Kraft moving famous chocolate brands to Switzerland for tax reasons. Someone ought to mention that his new ethical minister has been up to far worse for the best part of a decade.
Read the full article at;
Private Eye
Now a question to the many Anti-Cuts campaigners… Do you think you are chasing the right people if the Banksters are pulling the strings?