the jersey trust is owned by a series of blackstone luxembourg companies.ng a major based in london, blackstone has been given non—resident landlord status by hmrc meaning they can collect rental income on the property tax free and send it to luxembourg. the data suggests that could be up to £10 million a year but they should pay corporation income tax on that in luxembourg. but do they? the rental income coming in, the companies that are receiving that are then borrowing huge amounts of money from other companies which are part of the blackstone group and when they borrow that money they have to pay interest on it and those interest payments destroy any profitability in those companies. and the end result is no taxes due? yes, because they are borrowing money from themselves they can claim a tax deduction on that. according to public documents, the luxembourg companies in the saint enoch‘s structure they'd just a few thousand pounds a year in taxes and guess what? if blackstone sell the place on, thejersey what? if blackstone sell the place on, the jersey

the head of the european commission john claude is himself accused of aiding tax avoidance as luxembourg's prime minister. my colleague daniel winter put it to mr muscovy see that this gives the commission's zero credibility in fighting tax dodging. absolutely false this commission has done more on fighting back through the tax evasion than all the commissions in the previous twenty years you know if you employ you don't think it had waited minutes it's not due to the fact that this or that person ids here due to the fact that we are in the new when the new area new period which is a period of transparency i have proposed that i am the tax commissioner and i've got full trust of wrong could you or i act in these name i have proposed eleven proposals directives among them six have been adopted which is not that easy if you consider what is the rule of unanimity inside the e.u. we have the best treating ever for a commission chose to commissioners my colleague not going to myself who are really i think a team which is dedicated to find a text of massive tax avoidance you can say that in two

members like ireland luxembourg and the netherlands use local for tax rates to attract firms luxembourg's finance minister on tuesday appeared optimistic despite his country's hesitance overpass proposals on people in the uk we need consensus we'll never states must be an agreement we've already made lots of progress in recent years and we've adopted new directives and will all work together to put them in place and go to the outrage over the new leaks could be wind in their sails but consensus will be far from easy. saudi arabia is getting tough on corruption and not even the highest that's the lens of saudi society that eleven members of the royal family and dozens of present and former government ministers have been arrested corruption affects vast sectors of the saudi economy may even influence the price of oil make anomic parameter with huge importance for the global economy. the ritz carlton hotel in riyadh is normally a popular meeting place for saudi arabia's wealthy c.e.o.'s ministers members of the royal family now the luxury hotel has become a prison housing the rich and famous

the borders are open why should we work together and combine our experience from germany luxembourg and france that's what brought us three together we've learnt a lot from it. or showing in corner is the wine on the label the three regions red for the german state of silent plea for luxembourg and yellow for france in the past war was waged at these borders among our grandfathers had fought in wars against each other our fathers then lived alongside each other and now we are making wine together and our children go to school together here in shanghai school and they great ultimately end up in the same bottle. as the social and it's certainly rare from a geological geographical point of view that three countries bordering each other all produce wine and that's happening here in this region in chang and transporting in europe in a glass showing just how harmonious europe can be. a reminder now of our top stories that we're following for you u.s. president donald trump is in south korea where he is due to hold talks with president moon jay in the white house has said trump's visit is mean

daniel: in 2003 he encouraged amazon to put its tax base in luxembourg.rre: in this commission, we are very confidently the champions of fighting tax fraud and tax evasion. we talked about the blacklist. i will mention two other proposals. the first one is i think that the activity of those intermediaries, legal advisors, fiscal advisors, or banks -- for banks, it must be made transparent. the third one is that we have already established reporting. between tax administrations, i would like it to become public. i think there's no position between investment, which we want to protect, and transparency. because transparency is the only way to tackle -- daniel: if you get what you are looking for, how will this affect the average person in europe who is watching this right now? if you get what you want and close these tax loopholes and blacklist taxation's? pierre: -- blacklist these tax havens? pierre: probably those practices are mostly legal but they are not moral. this cannot be possible. why? it exists only because it is hidden. if it is transparent and

and even not far from the border with luxembourg and friends will mains and consulates be pampered by the three stone chef since nine hundred ninety eight thousand his twenty per cent team have what to realize his vision of fine dining. the products they use come from all over the world and own ways of the finest quality like it's yellowtail amberjack straight from the type you fish market you don't care as much yellowtail amberjack is also available vacuum packed already filleted from a pharmacy in new zealand and australia in noisy london you know how you would you know my hair product has the same name yellowtail amberjack but it's quite different from one another it's my pleasure. for a long time bam restricted himself to classic french cuisine but after he was awarded his third michelin star in two thousand and five he realised he wanted to do something else trips to asia and especially to japan expanded his calorie horizon he began combining the best of both worlds. cream all meats instead of vegetable oils exotic fruit since face he developed a style of his own and he was soon

i love many tax models used by the netherlands the isle of man in luxembourg are sucking tax revenue out of the e.u. . and you'll end up destroying some countries do tax income from licensing payments at a lower rate. we've created a system of tax regulations that will apply to all of europe including in the netherlands and it will take some time to implement but it will happen it must also be approved by the national parliaments we are working constantly and aggressively to reduce the number of these loopholes in it it's like dealing with a hydra you cut off its head and it grows to more. journalists in the us been pouring over the paradise papers one of the more interesting leads that they've been following involves alleged connections between u.s. commerce secretary wilbur ross. and russian business executives. could these leaks cause serious problems for some members of the trumpet ministration or perhaps even for the president himself. new york times reporter mike macintyre is on his way to the offices of the international consortium of investigative journalists to prepare for a

eyes but there are many other jurisdictions are also competitive aisle of men seems to be what luxembourg was few years ago. well. since their statements are for us we have to set an open and transparent but also a very simple taxation system that is very straightforward to understand and that is probably another reason. if a business. anything to create a competitive advantage. here's another example the netherlands has developed an aggressive tax dumping program. this is amsterdam's financial district. these buildings are filled with the offices of businesses that actively implement europe's most tax friendly policies that includes the use of countless offshore companies. at this address on the prince brown outline there are no less than three thousand seven hundred forty businesses registered. looks like they don't want us filming here. here's the most popular of the dutch based tax avoidance schemes the cuts the tax on a company's profits to almost nothing. it's called a c.v. b.v. this is how it works let's say an american multinational sets up two businesses in the netherlands one is

you were very vocaljoined luxembourg and belgium.new convinced that brexit will actually happen?” campaign. i knew convinced that brexit will actually happen? i think what will happen is that we will come to a crisis point next summer. i can't tell you exactly how it will work itself out but this is what will happen. by next summer, the public will have made up their mind that the four red line is that the government had set in place are not going to be achieved. we will not have proper control the borders. we will not have proper control of our money. we are still paying loads of money. we are still paying loads of money to the eu. we will not have proper control of our courts and law because we will still be governed in many ways by the ecj and we won't have proper control of trade because we won't have individual trade agreements. all the propositions that were made by the leave camp, including remember that 350 million weeks of the nhs, they are not being achieved. next summer, we have to assess the position. in my view you canno

progress has been slow to bite you countries like violence the netherlands and luxembourg. which have themselves been brown the tax havens. steve pickk on ya if bob we haven'n't succeeded because the member states have conflicting interests octopussy the black shape easier luxembourg the netherlands ireland and the uk. in who have over the last forty years opposed any reforms with by phone. the east a drop the official list the blackest the countries and december. but any decision house have unanimous backing for its twenty eight states. on this extraordinary measures and launched an option which is so far never been taken. you can on the day's trading action now is s a fairly mud clothes for the major european indices which trending down. that with the exception of london's footsie one hundred addicts thirty five in madrid losing nearly half a percentage point. telecoms among the worst performing sectors on the day. the been record highs on wall street dow jones s. and p. five hundred and nasdaq all hitting new records there. on the nasdaq the chipmaker qualcomm is trading

members like ireland luxembourg and the netherlands used local for tax research truck firms luxembourg's finance minister on tuesday appeared optimistic despite his country's hesitance overpass proposals on people we need consensus will never states must be an agreement we've already made lots of progress in recent years and we've adopted a new directives and will all work together to put them in place and go to the outrage over the new leaks could be wind in their sails but consensus will be far from easy. the u.s. president apparently is a burden to the world economy that's according to a survey of more than nine hundred economy experts worldwide conducted by germany's you know an evil institute the overwhelming majority said they believe donald trump's policies were having a negative impact on the global economy especially when it comes to climate protection and social justice as well as international trade. enjoys a more positive reputation in the u.s. only a minority of experts believe his economic policies are harmful. now they call it a davos for geeks tens of thousands of develop

yet even members like ireland luxembourg and the netherlands also use low corporate tax rates which track firms defining why. makes attacks even could be a sensitive issue for those countries that means finding consensus in the current talks could remain difficult despite the pressure of new leaks. and to take just one company's an example outside of the e.u. the massive mining for glencore is mentioned thirty four thousand times in the paradise papers from the swiss n.-g. o. public eye and rasmus back joins us now believe me andreas glen cole has been singled out for criticism in the financial press what has the company done wrong in your opinion why the county the company has a lot of things from accounting mining licenses at the very low price to aggressive tax avoidance in countries such as colombia or book enough. until running it goes feet ships that was never disclosed. so your investigations into glen cause part of the paradise papers focuses on the company's operations in the democratic republic of congo why this country in particular. first of all the democratic race republic of

yet even members like ireland luxembourg and the netherlands also use low corporate tax rates with thousand times in the paradise papers from the swiss n.-g. o. public eye and rasmus back joins us now believe me andreas glen cole has been singled out for criticism in the financial press what has the company done wrong in your opinion. well the company the company has a lot of things from obtaining mining licenses at the very low price to aggressive tax avoidance in countries such as colombia or book enough. until running a ghost feet of ships that was never disclosed so your investigations into glen cause part of the paradise papers focuses on the company's operations in the democratic republic of congo why this country in particular well first of all that the democratic republic of congo is one of the typical examples of a country that sufis the result scarce meaning despite its reach it is the population states very very poor and what happened with glencore business in that year see is that they worked with a very dark door opener that was already involved in arms stealing and i'm and dea

in luxembourg he doesn't want to have to lay off any of this thirty employees. as i had to talk to it's all just delaying tactics for me as a businessman it means continuing to struggle with this mess without any hope of change and having to entertain the possibility of getting out of the french market altogether if things don't improve. because of it. his company depends on its exports to france even more so now that it's just invested in a new factory. new york's legendary jewelry store tiffany and co is making hollywood's dreams come true in a move to attract millennial as the flagship store on fifth avenue now has a new box cafe where customers can enjoy themselves during their shopping spree and yes you can order breakfast which tiffany's office to make the nine hundred sixty one film title a reality of course it is not cheap breakfast costs twenty nine dollars plus taxes but hey at least you get to post you having breakfast at tiffany's. and that's your business update you on t w thanks for keeping me company. euro. what unites. what divides. us. what bind

you can all say that in two thousand and three he encouraged the amazon to put its tax base in luxembourg i'm talking about the president of the committee. and dr you are president of the commission and this commission we are i can say that quietly but very confident keep the champions of fighting tax fraud and tax evasion we talked about this is a commission proposal i will mention two other proposals the one is the first one is that i think that the activity of those intermediaries legal advisers. fiscal advisors or banks it must be made transparent to the next administration and the third one is that we have already established a country by country reporting this is one of the six directives i mentioned but between tax administrations i would like it to become public i think there is no a position between investment which we want to protect the value you want and aren't yes because transparency if you want to see is the only way to tackle with those phenomena is if we can reach our goal but when you are addressing it when you're looking for how will this affect the average person in eu

with the trust is owned by a series of blackstone luxembourg companies.the property tax—free and send it to luxembourg. but the profits are written off against interest payments on loans from one end of blackstone to another. this means only a few thousand pounds in taxes were paid. when they borrow that money, they need to pay interest on it and those interest payments destroy any profitability in those companies. and the end result is no taxes due? yes. and because they are borrowing money from themselves they can claim a tax deduction on that. deloitte, who designed this legal scheme, declined to comment. it seems like a complete charade. a glasgow shopping centre generating cash and rental income here in scotland but that cash flows tax free out of scotland and into luxembourg via the offshore tax haven where the st enoch‘s centre is effectively owned. jersey is a crown dependency which means it's independent but the uk is ultimately responsible. jersey specialises in trusts and there are thousands of them based here. one of the many benefits to holdi

i slant is lower, luxembourg and denmark are higher. lower,andi is luxembourg and denmark are higher. sovereign bond yields are declining today. commodities. that is the situation on the gmm function. credit suisse is in the news today. it is planning to return half of its net income to shareholders through buybacks and special dividends and wants to reward shareholders to bolster the banks finances, after capping shareholders for more than 10 billion swiss francs in recent years. the best been selling risky assets and entering the final year of restructuring. shareholders have stayed with the bank. aviva in the news today. the insurer will increase its payout rate. 55% to 60% democracy and --rovement in the cash flow after seeing improvement in the cash flow. increasing the dividend payout rate. shows are up by .5% today. gauge onicial factory extra to the increasing to a near five-year high. helping to cushion the effect of the campaign to clean up the environment and the financial system. overseas and domestic consumers as snapping u

if you take the minimum wage of bulgaria it is just over two hundred euros if you take that of luxembourg it is just under two thousand euros so it's a really complex issue on the other hand things have to start somewhere and if you look at the charge of fundamental rights for instance that was a proclaimed in the year two thousand and seven years later it was incorporated into your law the members of the european parliament according this agreement a key instrument to make the e.u. left again i mean do you think now plans going to work out. a swedish prime minister and co-host of this event here sets today it is time to put people first and the e.u. now has the momentum and my impression really is that bracks it has been somewhat as a lot like a wake up call for the e.u. member states who have very much understood that they need to change the refutation of the european project if it is meant to have a future and now it really depends if this will work out is what can they make of that pillar of social rights if that if that leads to more new legislation for social rights then it can inde

reporter: yet eu members like ireland, luxembourg and the netherlands also use low tax rates to attractms. defining what makes a tax haven could be a sensitive issue for those countries. that means finding consensus in the current talks could remain difficult, despite the new pressure of new leaks. daniel: to take one company as an example, the massive mining firm glencore is mentioned 34,000 times papers. -- in the paradise papers. they haven't singled out for criticism in the financial press. what has the company done wrong in your opinion? guest: the company has done a lot of things, from aggressive tax avoidance in countries such as colombia, and running a ghost fleet of ships that was never disclosed. daniel: your investigations into glencore's part of the paradise papers focuses on the company's operations in the democratic republic of congo. why this country in particular? guest: first of all, the democratic republic of congo is one of the typical examples of a country that suffers resource scarce. meaning despite this, the country stays very poor. what happened in the doc's they

is much larger and so is the wage differential now it's one to ten so in luxembourg workers earn ten times as much as in bulgaria. not surprisingly the posting of workers is increasing in twenty ten it was already one point three million people in twenty fourteen already one point nine million an increase of almost forty five percent. germany france and belgium are the countries with the most foreign workers from within the e.u. most come from eastern europe most workers who came to germany in twenty fourteen came from poland at thirty six point five percent slovenia at twelve point one percent and hungary at eight point nine percent one in three works in construction one in five in industry and one in ten in the health care or senior care sector the new bill is designed to improve conditions for these workers. now i rather complex labor scheme let's break it down a bit with your empathy from the german trade union confederation there he consults for a project called family billet t. and as i understand it correctly it basically wants to enforce fair wages and working conditions for

the european medicines agency with almost nine hundred employees financial hubs frankfurt dublin luxembourg paris and vienna are among those bidding for the european banking authority with its one hundred eighty workers those institutions also attract plenty of other jobs and money so their host cities organizing hundreds of conferences and events with experts from around the world together they book thirty nine thousand hotel rooms in london each year just to give you an idea no candidate cities will find out later today if their bid was successful as britain's vote to leave the e.u. will see many foreign citizens leave the country demand for english lessons has plummeted hitting those whose business it is to get people talking. that sound marks the start of classes that ox field language school in north west london but nowadays several seats remain empty this school is experiencing hard times it's lost a third of its students since britain voted to leave the e.u. in twenty sixteen fields english classes used to be filled with students from spain and italy but the brics it vote has made ma

host the european medicines agency with nine hundred employees financial hubs frankfurt dublin luxembourg paris and vienna they're among those bidding for the european banking all thirty with its one hundred and eighty employees of course both institutions or so attract plenty of other jobs and monies to the host cities and organizing hundreds of conferences and events there from experts around the world just to give you an idea to get the they book thirteen no i thousand hotel rooms in london each year so certainly very lucrative canada cities will find out later today whether the bid was successful and as portions vote to leave the e.u. will see many forward a uses since neve the country to mom for english lessons has plummeted hitting those whose business to business it is to get people talking. that sound marks the start of classes that ox field language school in north west london but nowadays several seats remain empty this school is experiencing hard times it's lost a third of its students since britain voted to leave the e.u. in twenty sixteen fields english classes used to be fil

know you can all say that in two thousand and three he encouraged amazon to put it in tax base in luxembourg i'm talking about the president of the committee. and dr you are president of the commission and this commission we are i can say that quietly but very confidently the champions of fighting tax fraud and tax evasion we talked about this is a commission proposal i will mention two other proposals the one is the first one is that i think that the activity of those intermediaries legal advisers. fiscal advisors banks it must be made transparent to the next administration and the third one is that we have already established a country by country reporting this is one of the six directives i mentioned but between tax administrations i would like it to become public i think there is no a position between investment which we want to protect the event you want to look at her and say yes because transparency if you want to see is the only way to tackle with those phenomena is if we can reach our goal but when you are addressing it when you're looking for how will this affect the average person

yet even members like ireland luxembourg and the netherlands also use low corporate tax rates which track firms defining what makes a tax haven could be a sensitive issue for those countries that means finding consensus in the current talks could remain difficult despite the pressure of new leaks. and to take just one companies an example outside of the e.u. the massive mining glencore is mentioned thirty four thousand times in the paradise papers from the swiss n.-g. o. public eye and rasmus box joins us now and amy andreas glenn call has been singled out for criticism in the financial press what has the company done wrong in your pain. well the company the company has a lot of things from obtaining mining licenses at the very low price to aggressive tax avoidance in countries such as colombia or book enough. until running it goes feet ships that was never disclosed so your investigations into glen cause part of the paradise papers focuses on the company's operations in the democratic republic of congo why this country in particular well first of all that the democratic republic of congo

and councilmembers, and to ambassadors from belgium, greece, hungary, the league of arab state, luxembourg, nepal, nicaragua, the republic of slovenia and spain. and welcome too to senator ron johnson who has escaped for an hour from the tax wars on capitol hill. and to former senator johnson. by the way, one staffer from senator johnson's office attended our foreign policy program. and finally, let me acknowledge my own relationships and our respect for some of your senior staff, including my old capitol hill buddy, margaret peterlynn, your chief of staff. and your newly minted and highly reviewed assistant secretary for europe, wes mitchell. so now, please welcome the 69th secretary of state, mr. secretary, the floor is yours. [applause] secretary tillerson: well, good morning and thank you, jane, for that very kind flukes and also thanks to the wilson center for this opportunity to address you today. the wilson center has made important contributions to public policy and it is very fitting venue for our discussion today on europe considering 100 years ago, the united states entered worl

of the european commission john claudie younker is himself accused of aiding tax avoidance as luxembourg's prime minister well earlier my colleague daniel didn't put it to mr b. c. that this is the commission's zero credibility in fighting tax dodging. so you force this commission has done more on fighting back through the tax evasion than all the commissions in the previous twenty years you know if you employ you don't think it had waited minutes it's not due to the fact that this or that person ids here due to the fact that we are in the new wind in the new area new period which is a period of transparency i have proposed that i am the tax commissioner and i've got full trust of them could you or i act in these names i have proposed eleven proposals directives among them six have been adopted which is not that easy if you consider what is the rule of unanimity inside the e.u. we have the best treating ever for a commission who could chose to commission is my colleague not going to myself who are really i think a team which is dedicated to fighting that it take to of massive tax avoidance

the european medicines agency with almost nine hundred employees financial hubs frankfurt dublin luxembourg paris and vienna are among those bidding for the european banking authority with its one hundred eighty workers both institutions also attract plenty of other jobs and money to their host cities organizing hundreds of conferences and events with experts from around the world together they book thirty nine thousand hotel rooms in london each year just to give you an idea not candidate cities we'll find out later today if their bid was successful and of course we will tell you who came out on top. three u.s. citizens are facing new travel restrictions to cuba this months as the trump administration adopts a more hawkish stance on opening up to the communist southern neighbor travelers will now only be allowed to move around in groups and the hotels they can stay in are being restricted to new policies are a blow to cuba's fledgling tourism sector which was gearing up for a bonanza from the yankee dollar. vented american cars from the nine hundred fifty s. a common sight on the streets o

remember that the commission's own president, mrjuncker, was prime minister of luxembourg when his countrycker and his commissioners decamped to strasbourg as usual and had their weekly meeting in this very room and they say they're gripping this issue. for example, they want every company to publish every activity it does in every country so they can be taxed properly and they want to publish a black—list of global tax havens at the start of next month. but some meps say the hold—up comes from the member states. which countries are blocking it? oh, so many. i mean, of course you have the inner european tax paradises, like ireland, malta, cypress, but then surprisingly you have a number of big countries, and i forgot to mention the united kingdom and all these crown dependencies. but then you have big countries like germany. wolfgang schauble, when he was finance minister, not so long ago, was the key opponent to country— by—country reporting by multi—nationals, because he wants to preserve the reputation of the big german multi—nationals. so, you know, there's no holy finance ministers th

outline for the plan was allegedly drawn up by the private bank havilland although it's based in luxembourg it's owned by a british banking family with close ties to the u.a.e. the ultimate goal create a crisis which would force the qataris to step in to support their currency draining the country's cash reserves through these leaks the narrative in washington has changed from what was considered primarily to be. a response of qatari foreign policy to now a manufactured crisis by the other party to the conflict the u.a.e. and saudi arabia lead a group of mainly gulf nations which have imposed a partial blockade and cut off diplomatic relations to qatar international efforts to broker a settlement have come to nothing the scheme to interfere with the debt and bond market was always unlikely to succeed there are just too many variables but now it's been made public the financial markets will be watching more closely for any attempted manipulation alan fischer washington. the syrian army says it's now in control of the eastern city of alba to myself isis withdrew the border city was one of the

revealed i'll tell you first about the bank the outline prepared by bank how the law and a private luxembourg based bank owned by the family of controversial british financier david rowland laid out a scheme to drive down the value of cutter's bonds and increase the cost of insuring them with the ultimate goal of creating a currency crisis that would drain the country's cash reserve somewhere in the outline that they presented to the u.a.e. they said control the curve decide the future so the plan was that the united arab emirates would buy credit default swaps insurance on the bonds of cutter crashing they would preserve the outline for the banks as pretend to be friendly to them pretend. publicly to the press when you get the press to talk about this potentially you're concerned about qatar and what's happening but then the plan then calls for it so once you have the credit default swaps then you start shorting the bonds. how do you create the illusion that there's a mass selling of bonds by being both the buyer and the seller so many people in the financial and alice world so in the silver

suffice past only if you type but you meant these paradise papers and again you know and then the luxembourg is the panama papers leaks and everybody shouts but nothing happens and then let's say the same they have their alternative system and financial system and tax system they also want in these trade deals to get their own justice system the investor state dispute settlements so they would be justice which remember the very severe justice is harsh taxes are harsh obamacare is harsh education costs are harsh their system is like so smooth no barriers no ease of movement no taxes in every no no justice for deferred prosecution or prosecution unicorns and lollipops free money from the . price is up for today and that beautiful world they live and that's what the world they live him and then but we were stuck in these like border sort of countries where yeah. yeah ghettos you can see arc whatever nation you live in you're essentially stuck in a ghetto and yet our media will like set up these paradigms of like here's a right here's a left choose. one of the teams and you know your news media