Explosive Tax Haven Leaks Rock Financial Centers
By Courtesy of ONE News
Cook Island authorities are defending their banking system after being named as a top offshore tax haven in what is claimed to be the biggest financial leak in history.
Millions of documents have been released exposing the identities of politicians, celebrities and business people out to avoid paying tax.
Journalist Nicky Hager helped organize the investigation which revealed how thousands of government officials and wealthy families around the world have stashed cash in secret island trusts to avoid paying tax.
"Tax havens are the great black holes of the world, a lot of dodgy things go on and this is the biggest leak ever its huge much bigger than anything ever before," Hager said.
"There's a whole suite of inside information of how that world works."
That world includes the president of Azerbaijan, Georgia's prime minister, dictator Ferdinand Marcos' daughter, and even a Fijian mercenary.
ONE News understands the documents date as recent as 2010, and while they mostly involve the British Virgin Islands, the Cook Islands also features prominently. And that has enraged officials there.
"The media and information that we've seen come out today in relation to this matter seems to presume that anyone using the services or structures of the international finance centres are dodgy and that is simply not the case," Jennifer Davis from the Cook Islands Financial Services Authority said.
The Cook Islands offshore finance business is a big money earner for the country's economy - second only to tourism.
Because the industry relies on secrecy there are fears the identification of those using their services could be damaging.
"The Cook Islands authorities have gone to a great deal of trouble to try and improve its international standing," said Paul Heckles from the Cook Islands Financial Supervisory Commission.
But investigators are not convinced.
"My hope is that the governments like the New Zealand one will realise they shouldn't tolerate the Cook Islands tax haven," Hager said.
