Greetings from sleepy Aruba…like any other small Dutch town on a Sunday.
27 NOVEMBER 2022
HOW GREEK COMPANIES AND GHOST SHIPS ARE HELPING RUSSIA
An article in Foreign Policy on 23 November says that Greek and other European shipping companies are currently — and legally — helping Russian exporters get their oil to the desired destination. What’s more, a growing ghost fleet of ships that officially don’t exist and cannot, as a result, be traced or investigated is transporting sanctioned Russian goods around the world, just as it was already transporting banned Iranian, Venezuelan, and North Korean commodities.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/11/23/how-greek-companies-and-ghost-ships-are-helping-russia/
NIGERIA LAUNCHES NEW BANKNOTES TO HELP CURB CORRUPTION
On 24 November, Al Jazeera reported that Nigeria has launched newly designed currency notes, a move that the central bank says will help curb inflation and money laundering. The new denominations of 200 ($0.46), 500 ($1.15) and 1,000 naira ($2.30) are the first time Nigeria’s currency has been redesigned in 19 years and will be in circulation by mid-December.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/11/24/nigeria-launches-new-banknotes-to-help-curb-corruption
TAX AND OVERVIEW OF THE UK’S SOVEREIGN IMMUNITY REGIME
On 25 November, an article from Travers Smith provided an overview of the UK’s sovereign immunity regime and review of HM Treasury consultation on reforms to restrict the availability of sovereign immunity from direct taxation.
https://www.traverssmith.com/media/wb2iyx4d/sovereign-immunity-consultation-travers-smith-tax.pdf
GANGS OF CYBERCRIMINALS ARE EXPANDING ACROSS AFRICA
On 27 November, the Guardian reported that police and investigators fear organised gangs of fraudsters are expanding across sub-Saharan Africa, exploiting new opportunities as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic and the global economic crisis to make huge sums with little risk of being caught.
TAX HAVENS OF THE BRITISH EMPIRE: DEVELOPMENT, POLICY RESPONSES, AND DECOLONIZATION, 1961-1979
This PhD thesis is said to contribute a historical assessment of the British administrative tax haven experience as the phenomenon unfolded in a formative stage during the 1960s and 1970s. The study’s primary focus is how the British administration allowed tax haven developments to proliferate within British dependencies, a focus that will extend to the responses of sub-institutions of the British state in the context of decolonization. Institutions operating under the authority of HM Treasury and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office headed the negotiation of a formal UK tax haven policy established in 1971.
raytodd.blog 