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Tax Justice Focus THE CORRUPTION ISSUE VOLUME 11, NUMBER 1 TAX JUSTICE FOCUS EDITORIAL Want to Know How Squeaky Clean 1 Britain Is? Ask the People! The newsletter of the tax justice network David Whyte FEATURES The Great PFI Swindle 4 Allyson Pollock The Panama Papers Must Make Us 6 Re-Think Corruption Nicholas Shaxson Wild-West Property Trading in Offshore 8 Tax Havens WANT TO KNOW HOW Vickie Cooper ‘Bank Crimes’: Endemic Corruption 11 SQUEAKY CLEAN BRITAIN in UK Financial Services IS? ASK THE PEOPLE! Steve Tombs BOOK REVIEW Sun & Sea Tourism: Fantasy and 13 editorial by David Whyte Finance of the All-Inclusive Industry by Linda M. Ambrosie Review by David Hampton As Britain prepares to host a ‘corruption summit’ the Panama Papers have raised awkward questions about the country’s role as NEWS IN BRIEF 15 an enabler of transnational organized crime. Meanwhile evidence is AFTER PANAMA: FIVE STEPS 17 emerging that ordinary people are unwilling to follow elite cues on TO PUSH BACK AGAINST OFFSHORE CORRUPTION what constitutes corruption. s we began work on this issue of Tax Justice Focus, at the beginning of last month, the ‘Panama Papers’ leak of Mossack Fonseca’s fi les went viral. If Guest Editor: David Whyte Athe various revelations about the Prime Minister and involvement of British Editor: Dan Hind individuals and companies might have proved to be a moment of exposure for British Contributing Editor: John Christensen politics and British capitalism, there are some key questions that remain unanswered Design and layout: www.tabd.co.uk in the wake of the scandal. Email: info(at)taxjustice.net Published by the Tax Justice Network Ltd. © Tax Justice Network 2016 Why is the British government, led by David Cameron, still permitted to ‘lead’ on HSBC explains its relationship with the UK legal system. For free circulation, ISSN 1746-7691 international anti-corruption initiatives, such as the summit in London this month? Image: Nick Christensen SECOND QUARTER 2016, VOLUME 11 ISSUE 1 TAX JUSTICE FOCUS “The British public want rid of many of the practices Police rigging of evidence for example is • 75% said that the practice of senior typically done to avoid criticism of the police civil servants accepting corporate that have become part and parcel of the British way of (as in the Hillsborough case). The rigging of consultancies should be banned. doing business and doing politics.” LIBOR doubtless benefited the traders that colluded, but benefitted the banks and their • 62% said that inviting private shareholders much more. corporations into government to help shape the regulation of business should After all, half of all of the companies set Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI), The second reason that we should be be banned. up or represented by Mossack Fonseca represented a remarkable rise up the charts. skeptical about Britain’s rise up the charts are registered in British tax havens. And In 2010, David Cameron’s first year of office, is that the received wisdom projected by • 68% say that current PFI arrangements why does the debate on corruption in Britain was in 20th place. Robert Barrington, surveys like the CPI is exactly that: received for public projects should be banned. Britain focus narrowly on tax havens? The the head of Transparency International wisdom rather than concrete evidence. The questions put to the Prime Minister came in qualified the result by pointing out that there CPI merely measures the impressions of a In other words, the British public want rid a week when HSBC were once again being are “good reasons why people are skeptical large group of observers and experts around of many of the practices that have become questioned about actively helping clients in about whether Britain really merits a top 10 the world who are selected for the survey. part and parcel of the British way of doing tax avoidance, when the PFI scam began to ranking”. In the sense that it is based on perceptions business and doing politics. To the extent quite literally crumble as Edinburgh’s schools of groups of people who are perceived to that they know what is going on, they want collapsed, and when the full extent of the There are two major reasons to conclude be experts, the Index can actually be said it to stop. predatory property market was exposed that Britain’s chart position is creating a false to be doubly subjective. But what would in a report by Global Witness. All of those impression. The first is that the “corruption” a different survey look like, one that asked It is not difficult to see why. As I have issues are analysed in this edition of Tax that the CPI is concerned with is of a very not a bunch of handpicked experts, but a argued elsewhere, the revolving door, and Justice Focus. particular kind. Economists sometimes representative sample of the population? the involvement of the private sector in distinguish between collusive corruption public functions have proven to be both In a poll commissioned with YouGov earlier In the UK over the past few years, reports (where two parties collude for their common a symptom and a cause of institutional this year, we asked a representative cross of major corruption scandals of various benefit) and extortive corruption (where corruption in the neo-liberal period.2 section of the British public about how they kinds in the public and private sectors have one party is compelled to make a bribe Since the 2008 financial crisis, the UK’s regarded a range of collusive relationships become daily fodder. We are overwhelmed payment to another). It is less common, for brand of crony capitalism has enriched between the public and private sectors.1 by the scale, frequency and variety of example, to have to bribe a public official the few in a very harsh economic climate corruption cases in Britain, from police in the UK than some other countries. The survey revealed a public sentiment that has disproportionately punished the manipulation of evidence, to over-charging Extortive corruption is not a major problem strongly in favour of prohibiting some of poor. No wonder, then, that public opinion in out-sourced public contracts, bv way of in this country, though it is probably more the practices that are normal and routine in is so fiercely opposed to close collusion cash-for-access scandals involving prominent widespread than we tend to think it is. It is government – especially those that indicate between government and the private sector, politicians and price fixing, market extortive corruption that surveys like the a close – collusive – relationship between particularly on issues of crucial public manipulation and fraud in key sectors of the CPI are primarily concerned with. the public and the private sector. In this interest like policy-making. economy. survey: But the British style of corruption that we Nicolas Shaxson proposes that “Corruption And yet, in January 2016 it was reported are increasingly exposed to is collusive. And • 73% said that the practice of ministers involves abusing the public interest and that the UK was now the 10th least corrupt collusive corruption is not done merely for accepting corporate boardroom undermining public confidence in the country in the world. This result, reported personal gain, but is largely done for the appointments on leaving office should be integrity of rules, systems and institutions by Transparency International’s benchmark benefit of the organization or the institution. banned. that promote the public interest.” A shift 2 SECOND QUARTER 2016, VOLUME 11 ISSUE 1 TAX JUSTICE FOCUS “The government’s idea of the public interest is clearly out of tune with the public’s.” in the defi nition of corruption would need are forcibly removed from their homes Endnotes us to revisit how exactly we might defi ne (Cooper); taxpayers who are ripped off by 1 Ellis, D and Whyte, D (2016) Redefi ning Corruption: the public interest. The survey results artifi cially infl ated costs of public hospitals public attitudes to the relationship between government and business, London: Centre for Crime and Justice summarized above indicate clearly that the (Pollock); and the vast number of ordinary Studies. government’s idea of the public interest is households that are routinely defrauded 2 Whyte, D (2015) Introduction to How Corrupt is clearly out of tune with the public’s. by new fi nancial products (Tombs). The Britain?, London: Pluto. cumulative force of the contributions to this 3 HM Government’s (2014) Anti-Corruption Plan can The UK government conveniently avoids its special issue of Tax Justice Focus must make be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/ uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/ growing reputation as a crony capitalist state the rest of the world nervous when David file/388894/UKantiCorruptionPlan.pdf par excellence, preferring in its own Anti- Cameron says he wants to take the lead in 4 The full World Bank defi nition can be found here: Corruption Plan3 to more or less follow the tackling global corruption. http://www.worldbank.org/en/about/unit/integrity- World Bank defi nition of: “offering, giving, vice-presidency/what-is-fraud-and-corruption receiving or soliciting, directly or indirectly, We need to start to ask fundamental 5 Ellis, D and Whyte, D (2016) Op. cit. of anything of value to infl uence improperly questions about the British brand of the actions of another party.”4 The same corruption. And those questions will have Anti-Corruption Plan makes it clear that to be answered by the people, rather than it is government policy to remain fi xated by a minority of appointed ‘experts’.5 on extortion by criminal gangs, rather than collusion between powerful corporations David Whyte is a Professor of Socio-legal Studies and government departments.
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