Latest News Clips 2016.04.18

              Bengo’s Latest News Clips             2016.04.18

1.      Panama Papers

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Countries with politicians, public officials or close associates implicated in the leak on April 3, 2016

The Panama Papers are a leaked set of 11.5 million confidential documents that provide detailed information about more than 214,000 offshore companies listed by the Panamanian corporate service provider Mossack Fonseca, including the identities of shareholders and directors of the companies. The documents show how wealthy individuals, including public officials, hid their assets from public scrutiny. At the time of publication, the papers identified five then-heads of state or government leaders from Argentina, Iceland, Saudi Arabia,Ukraine, and the United Arab Emirates as well as government officials, close relatives, and close associates of various heads of government of more than forty other countries. The British Virgin Islands was home to half of the companies exposed and Hong Kongcontained the most affiliated banks, law firms, and middlemen.^[1]

While the use of offshore business entities is not illegal in the jurisdictions in which they are registered, during their investigation reporters found that some of the shell companies may have been used for illegal purposes, including fraud, drug trafficking, and tax evasion.^[2]

An anonymous source using the pseudonym "John Doe" made the documents available in batches to German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung beginning in early-2015. The information from this unremunerated whistleblower^[3] documents transactions as far back as the 1970s and eventually totaled 2.6 terabytes of data. Given the scale of the leak, the newspaper enlisted the help of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ), which distributed the documents for investigation and analysis to some 400 journalists at 107 media organizations in 76 countries.^[4] The first news reports based on the papers, and 149 of the documents themselves, were published on April 3, 2016. The ICIJ plans to publish a full list of companies involved in early-May 2016.^[5]

2.      Brazil’s political crisis

Time to go

The tarnished president should now resign

The Economist    Mar 26th 2016

DILMA ROUSSEFF’S difficulties have been deepening for months. The massive scandal surrounding Petrobras, the state-controlled oil giant of which she was once chairman, has implicated some of the people closest to her. She presides over an economy suffering its worst recession since the 1930s, largely because of mistakes she made during her first term. Her political weakness has rendered her government almost powerless in the face of rising unemployment and falling living standards. Her approval ratings are barely in double digits and millions of Brazilians have taken to the streets to chant “Fora Dilma!”, or “Dilma out!”

And yet, until now, Brazil’s president could fairly claim that the legitimacy conferred by her re-election in 2014 was intact, and that none of the allegations made against her justified her impeachment. Like the judges and police who are pursuing some of the most senior figures in her Workers’ Party (PT), she could declare with a straight face her desire to see justice done.

Now she has cast away that raiment of credibility (seearticle). On March 16th Ms Rousseff made the extraordinary decision to appoint her predecessor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, to be her chief of staff. She portrayed this as a shrewd hire. Lula, as he is known to all, is a canny political operator: he could help the president survive Congress’s attempt to impeach her and perhaps even stabilise the economy. But just days before, Lula had been briefly detained for questioning at the order of Sérgio Moro, the federal judge in charge of the Petrobras investigation (dubbed lava jato, or “car wash”), who suspects that the former president profited from the bribery scheme (see Bello). Prosecutors in the state of São Paulo have accused Lula of hiding his ownership of a beach-front condominium. He denies these charges. By acquiring the rank of a government minister, Lula would have partial immunity: only the country’s supreme court could try him. In the event, a judge on the court has suspended his appointment.

3.      Billions frauded by Taiwanese: TAO

The China Post   April 14, 2016

TAIPEI, Taiwan -- Beijing yesterday accused Taiwan of being too lenient toward phone fraud perpetrators, as it tried to justify its controversial extradition of 45 Taiwanese suspects to China from Kenya.

"A lot of telecom fraud criminals are repeat offenders from Taiwan, but they have not received the punishments they deserve," said An Fengshan, spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) under the State Council, blaming Taiwanese for running such cross-border scams that have conned billions of renminbi out of Chinese citizens every year.

He said that in the past many of these suspects have been repatriated to Taiwan where they would be "immediately released."

"After a while, (these suspects) will commit new crimes by running new scams overseas," An said, stressing that Chinese citizens are increasingly angry about widespread phone fraud and demand the authorities clamp down hard on it.

A total of 45 Taiwanese phone fraud suspects have been forcibly repatriated from Kenya to China, rather than Taiwan, this week, prompting Taipei's foreign ministry to call it an "uncivilized act of abduction."

The repatriation has also sparked a row over China's jurisdiction over Taiwanese.

But the TAO spokesman insisted that China "certainly" has jurisdiction because all fraud victims are mainland Chinese, and Kenya and China have formal diplomatic ties.

An said "it should be very clear who the victims are and who the perpetrators are," apparently dismissing Taiwan's claims that the repatriated suspects are victims of "injustice."

An claimed that many mainland Chinese have suffered much from phone fraud, pointing out that some victims have gone bankrupt and others have committed suicide.

In one case, a government unit lost more than 100 million renminbi to telecom fraud, An said.

He said each year almost 10 billion renminbi involved in phone fraud has been transferred to Taiwan, and so far only 200,000 renminbi has been retrieved.

"I hope the Taiwan side can consider more from the victims' perspective when dealing with this matter," An said.

He said cross-strait joint efforts to fight crime have achieved significant results, but there are still problems that cannot be ignored.

He said China will invite Taiwan's law enforcement personnel to the mainland to discuss how they can work together in fighting phone fraud.

Not a Good Time for Taipei delegation

While Taipei is seeking to dispatch a delegation to the mainland in three days to visit the suspects, TAO has sent a letter saying "it is not a good time for people from your side to come at present," according to the Mainland Affairs Council.

Fraud is a minor crime in Taiwan, and criminals convicted of phone scam crimes usually receive only short prison terms.

Many phone fraud rings from Taiwan have also moved their bases of operation to other countries, with their biggest target groups being Taiwanese and mainland Chinese nationals.

Observers said the ongoing row has highlighted not only jurisdiction issues, but also mistrust by Taiwan and China of each other's judicial systems.

Taiwanese nationals do not believe they will receive fair trials in China, while mainland Chinese people blame Taiwan's authorities for not doing enough to crack down on crimes, the observers said.

4.      Post-Obama Visit, Cuba’s Communist Party to Signal Next Steps

Younger generation waiting in the wings for Castro to cede power

 A sign hanging in a shopping mall in Havana reads "We salute the 7th congress of the Cuban Communist Party." PHOTO: REUTERS

The New York Times    April 15, 2016

Cuba’s ruling Communist party meets Saturday for the first time since 2011 amid a historic detente with the U.S. and a quiet revolution of rising expectations as Raúl Castro prepares to cede power to a younger generation.

The congress comes less than a month after President Barack Obama’s visit to Havana, which sought to bury the Cold War enmity that has divided the two countries for more than half a century.

Mr. Castro, 84 years old, has said he would step down in 2018. His generation has ruled the island since 1959.

Miguel Diaz Canel, 55, was named first vice president of Cuba’s Council of State three years ago, and is widely tipped to be Mr. Castro’s successor.

The party congress is taking place in a somewhat changed atmosphere in the wake of Mr. Obama’s visit. In a speech broadcast across the island, Mr. Obama challenged Mr. Castro not to fear the voices of his own people.

The “Obama effect

,” says Ted Henken, a Cuba specialist at New York’s Baruch College, appears to have driven a public wedge between hard-liners and supporters of change within the Cuban regime.

Pro-government writers excoriated Mr. Obama in the official press, warning that the new, friendlier U.S. policy was a Trojan horse to overthrow the regime. Former President Fidel Castro also weighed in with a rare article in Granma lambasting the U.S. and the president, ironically titled “Brother Obama.”

The island’s economy has diverged significantly since the last party congress.

About a quarter of the labor force now works in a growing private sector, according to Mr. Everleny. Many in the booming tourist trade are doing well, such as restaurant owners and employees, cabdrivers and people who take in boarders.

But the other 75% who depend on state-sector jobs are struggling to survive on salaries that average about $25 a month, as consumer prices spike.

Cubans in the private sector now are limited to an odd list of 201 occupations that runs from cutting hair to acting as clowns in parties. Many want to see a greater liberalization that would permit professionals, such as lawyers, engineers and architects, to strike out on their own, Mr. Everleny said.

Many Cubans also want foreign joint ventures to have the freedom to hire Cuban workers directly, instead of having to go through state employment companies that keep most of their salaries.

They also want the government to create a legal framework for small and medium-size businesses to be able to export and buy supplies from a now largely nonexistent wholesale sector, Mr. Henken says.

“The people are asking for reforms, almost demanding them,” says Hugo Cancio, a Cuban-American with businesses in Havana and Miami.

Foreign investors are living through a moment of “irrational exuberance” about Cuba’s business possibilities, says Carlos Saladrigas, founder of the Cuba Study Group, an influential U.S. think tank.

“If the government doesn’t make major changes, I expect there will be a lot of disenchantment from investors,” Mr. Saladrigas adds.