On 8 November the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, announced that criminal and civil investigations had been launched into 22 individuals following an investigation by the Panama Papers Task Force led by HMRC and the National Crime Agency. Mr Hammond also said that another 43 high net worth individuals had been placed under special review while their […]

With the publication of the draft Criminal Finances Bill 2016-2017 on Thursday 13th Oct 2016, financial services firms have been put on notice of what stands to be the largest expansion of UK corporate criminal liability since the Bribery Act 2010. the Bill proposes one of the most significant overhauls of money laundering and proceeds […]

A Federal Court judge has ordered two Canadian banks to disclose their dealings with a financial institution in the tax haven of Cayman Islands. It’s the second time the government has sought a court order to investigate offshore tax evasion since the Star, in collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, made the Panama […]

ON THE 10TH JULY 2016 The UK’s tax authority, Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs (HMRC), closed its consultation on a new corporate criminal offence: failure to take reasonable steps to prevent tax evasion. The offence The offence will have three stages: Stage one: illegal tax evasion by a taxpayer; Stage two: criminal facilitation of that evasion by a […]

Barcelona superstar Lionel Messi has been given a 21-month jail sentence for tax evasion – but is unlikely to go to prison. Messi and his father, Jorge, have received the same sentence but under Spanish law a prison sentence under two years for a first-time non-violent crime can be served on probation, meaning they are […]

America’s civil and criminal crackdown on offshore accounts continues, as a former Credit Suisse banker plead guilty helping U.S. taxpayers evade income taxes.  A Swiss Banker Pleads Guilty To U.S. Tax Evasion as IRS Hunts Offshore Accounts – this follows the Credit Suisse guilty plea in May 2014 for conspiring to aid and assist taxpayers […]

Probe puts Swiss bank back in Justice Department’s crosshairs after $2.6 billion settlement two years ago over American customers’ taxes authorities are investigating Credit Suisse Group AG’s operations in Israel, people familiar with the matter said, once again placing the Swiss bank under Justice Department scrutiny related to its handling of American clients. The Justice […]

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (“MAS”) recently announced that it has withdrawn approval from the Singapore branch of an international bank due to serious breaches of anti-money laundering (“AML”) requirements, poor management oversight, and gross misconduct by certain bank staff. http://www.mas.gov.sg/News-and-Publications/Media-Releases/2016/MAS-directs-BSI-Bank-to-shut-down-in-Singapore.aspx MAS also imposed financial penalties on the bank and referred members of staff and […]