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Tuesday, March 11, 2025
The Spider's Web: Britain's Second Empire | Crown and Corruption | The O...
with Transcript 2027
,
Country: United Kingdom, United States
Language: English
Release Date: 5 May 2017 (Mexico)
Storyline:
The Spider's Web: Britain's Second Empire, is a documentary film that shows how Britain transformed from a colonial power into a global financial power. At the demise of empire, City of London financial interests created a web of offshore secrecy jurisdictions that captured wealth from across the globe and hid it behind obscure financial structures in a web of offshore islands. Today, up to half of global offshore wealth may be hidden in British offshore jurisdictions and Britain and its offshore jurisdictions are the largest global players in the world of international finance. How did this come about, and what impact does it have on the world today? This is what the Spider's Web sets out to investigate. With contributions from leading experts, academics, former insiders and campaigners for social justice, the use of stylized b-roll and archive footage, the Spider's Web reveals how in the world of international finance, corruption and secrecy have prevailed over regulation and transparency, and the UK is right at the heart of this.
Reviews:
"This is a fascinating, compelling and well-made film about how the City of London increased its influence through the use of tax havens after the break up of the British Empire.
The documentary is extremely informative and eye-opening, but be warned, it can also leave you feeling angry and disillusioned about how successive governments, politicians, and the Establishment have combined to legally defraud the tax payer.
Sadly, nothing seems to change, probably because the same people who could actually do something are the very people who are enriching themselves through these tax havens. I really enjoyed this well-made film and I recommend it to anyone who has an interest in current affairs." -Written by tabone on IMDb.com
TRANSCRIPT
[Music] the British soldier all around the globe you will
0:22
find him from Jala to Hong Kong everywhere he stands against the
0:29
threatening ear staunch symbol of our common Will to order
0:51
[Music]
1:00
[Music]
1:10
the British Empire the largest Empire the world has ever
1:15
known for over 300 years Britain ruled its armies conquered and its Bankers
1:21
proclaimed the might of its currency but one day it all began to
1:26
fall apart one by one countries declared their independence from Britain and no
1:32
amount of force could reverse the tide as British Elites saw their wealth
1:39
Privileges and Empire disintegrate they began to search for a new role in a changing world and they found one in
1:49
[Music] finance this is a film about how Britain transformed from a colonial power to a
1:56
modern Financial power and how this transformation has shaped the world we live
2:01
[Music]
2:18
in in the days of the British Empire the city of London was the world's biggest
2:23
Global Financial Center the city of London was the kind of beating Financial heart of the
2:29
British Empire the historians Kan and Hopkins called it the governor of the Imperial engine all these countries in
2:36
the Empire um used to use the Sterling currency and the city of London was kind of the financier of this Zone not just
2:42
inside the Sterling Zone but outside the Sterling Zone as well as Britain's Empire declined so too did the city of
2:50
London one British army truck is bombed killing two soldiers and wounding 12 as
2:56
rioting becomes daily more widespread on Cyprus young people of High School school age take an increasing part in
3:01
the violence here a group of girls are being dispersed after a rock throwing battle with British military
3:10
police with the decline of Empire British commercial interests across the globe were under
3:16
threat in 1956 Egypt nationalized the suiz
3:22
canal a new Middle East crisis arises as president Naser of Egypt tells a wildly
3:27
cheering crowd in Alexandria that Egypt has seized the internationally owned Suz
3:35
Canal France and Britain issue a 12h hour ultimatum within hours of its expiration Britain's war planes are
3:42
winging their way to Egypt and its bombers attack five key cities including
3:48
Cairo the United States was opposed to The Invasion and put pressure on Britain
3:53
and France to withdraw their troops there will be no United States involvement in these present
4:00
hostilities it is our hope and intent that this matter will be brought before the United Nations General Assembly
4:07
there the opinion of the world can be brought to bear in our quest for a just end to this tormenting
4:15
problem Britain was humiliated the suiz crisis signified the end of Britain's
4:20
role as one of the world's major Powers following the crisis there was a
4:27
run on the Sterling on the UK pound some people suspect that the American
4:34
government was encouraging this run on the UK pound as financiers withdrew their money
4:41
from Britain the value of the pound decreased to protect the value of the pound Britain limited the bank's
4:48
overseas lending they were not able to invest abroad and obviously they were
4:55
unhappy and we don't know exactly the context but it's very clear that bank so their representative made a
5:02
representation to the bank of England which in itself was dominated by
5:07
representative from the banking industry it seems that they have reached an
5:12
agreement which was never written that if the banks um intermediated between
5:20
two non-residents in a forign currency in that case dollar then this particular
5:27
intim mediation this particular deal will not be considered by the bank of England under its own
5:34
jurisdiction the banks began to create a market for dollars in London called the London euro dollar
5:40
market to differentiate these Euro Market activities from their domestic banking activities Banks kept two sets
5:48
of accounts the bank of England the UK
5:53
regulator declared that the London Euro market accounts were not in London they were elsewhere and and therefore it had
6:00
no responsibility for regulating them it's about providing a legal space
6:08
in which you pretend activity is taking place and the importance of that is that
6:13
you pretend it's not taking place in the economy where it really is taking place
6:18
so you're taking activity from the place where it's regulated and taxed and pretending that it's happening elsewhere
6:26
now where doesn't really matter it's just elsewhere
6:31
when American Banks realized that London offered the ability to avoid us regulations they moved their
6:38
International operations to the [Music]
6:45
city around the same time as American Banks were moving their International operations to London another new kind of
6:53
financial space began to emerge far away from London in Britain's overseas
6:58
jurisdictions the last remnants of Empire back in the 60s the Cayman
7:04
Islands was a complete Backwater the stories go that mosquitoes were so thick
7:10
in the air sometimes they were enough to suffocate cows that's a legend that you hear about the Cayman Islands I don't know how true it was but it was there
7:17
was nothing happening there accountants and lawyers from London arrived in the Cayman Islands and other British
7:23
dependencies and began to draft a set of financial secrecy laws and regulations
7:30
because these jurisdictions main selling point was secrecy they were called secrecy
7:37
jurisdictions what the Cayman Islands was doing was straightforwardly illegal activity drugs money was coming in in
7:44
huge quantities um tax evasion whatever whatever you wanted you could have
7:49
it the bank of England was observing the developments from London and noted in a
7:54
report marked secret dated 11th of April 1969 we need to be quite sure that the
8:01
possible proliferation of trust companies Banks Etc which in most cases
8:06
would be no more than brass plates manipulating assets outside the islands does not get out of
8:12
hand there is of course no objection to their providing bolt holes for
8:18
non-residents but we need to be sure that in so doing opportunities are not created for the transfer of UK Capital
8:25
to the non-sterling area outside UK rules [Music]
8:31
these small territories the last remnants of the British Empire which are still overseas territories today they are still the last remnants of the
8:37
British Empire um there are 14 of these overseas territories seven of them are Bonafide tax Havens including the Cayman
8:44
Islands Bermuda the British Virgin Islands um some of the biggest tax Havens in the world today are still
8:52
British with access to large amounts of offshore money the Euro Market grew
8:57
rapidly by 1980 it had reached $500
9:03
billion by 1988 $4.8 trillion and by 1997 nearly 90% of all
9:11
International loans were made through this Market the British Empire had sunk
9:19
leaving hardly a trace behind but the city of London adapted and survived
9:31
the city of London London's financial district is a peculiar place it has been
9:37
called a city within a City a state within a state it is run by an
9:42
organization called the city of London Corporation a private company that performs all the functions of a local
9:49
council with a private police force and private courts those of you who aren't
9:54
from the UK some of you even who are uh might not be aware just how weird a thing
9:59
the little city of London is within the big the big London the city of London is
10:06
uh a separate entity to uh The Wider London and it has its own head the Lord
10:13
mayor who's distinct from the mayor uh who runs the rest of
10:18
London every November the city stages the Lord mayor's show the world's oldest
10:24
Civic procession
10:38
the city of London has long had this curious legal status because um back in
10:43
1066 when William the Conqueror came over the city was one of the only portions of England that he failed to
10:50
conquer and he struck a deal with the city in 1067 that allowed them to continue
10:55
functioning to this day the city of London is exempt from numerous laws that govern the rest of
11:02
Britain its political system derives from the Middle Ages the city's electorate is dominated not by its
11:09
residents but by the private businesses operating within the city its Lord mayor is selected by the
11:16
heads of medieval guilds they have a a representative in
11:23
the House of Commons called the remembrancer apart from the clerks of the court of the House of Commons he's
11:29
the only unelected person there all other lobbyists have to stop you know in the lobby they're not allowed past the
11:35
lobby the city of London has a permanent representative in the House of Commons whose role is to report back to the city
11:42
of London Corporation and to Lobby Parliament on behalf of the
11:48
city the corporation of London clearly it's a uniquely unique and interesting
11:55
phenomena that should have attracted U many political sign scientist political Economist and
12:01
Economist but I don't know of anyone who studied systematically the cooperation
12:07
London in its impact on policy or Economic Policy so we can only
12:15
surmise some people uh assume or surise that the
12:20
corporation London is extremely powerful and is able in one way or another to
12:26
shape uh British policy particularly with INF meths Clem Atley the Prime
12:31
Minister after the second world war um had had had something to say about the city of London Corporation he did yes so
12:37
over and over again we have seen that there is in this country another power than that which has its seat at
12:43
Westminster the city of London a convenient term for a collection of financial interests is able to assert
12:50
itself against the government of the country those who control money can pursue a policy at home and abroad
12:57
contrary to that which has been decided by the
13:08
people at the heart of the city of London stands the bank of England the bank of England is not just a central
13:15
bank it is also a financial regulator at the demise of Empire the
13:21
bank of England used this regulatory authority to help attract the world's Banks to London
13:30
in 1972 the bank of England issued a license to the bank of credit and commerce International which set up its
13:37
head office in London within 10 years BCCI grew into
13:43
the seventh largest bank in the world 10 years later BCCI was
13:49
bankrupt the deputy director of the CIA Richard Kerr said late today that the
13:55
CIA did use BCCI to support CIA activities
14:03
overseas but BCCI had not just collaborated with the world's intelligence Services it had also
14:09
engaged in extensive financial fraud money laundering and terrorist
14:15
financing BCCI constituted International Global crime of a level that boggles the
14:23
Mind BCCI was financing terrorism the bank of England knew it says the report
14:29
but instead of supervising it properly it tried to prevent the bank's collapse I am saying very directly that the bank
14:36
of England had sufficient information in front of it to close
14:42
BCCI 15 months earlier than it did but millions of depositors were hurt in that
14:49
process numerous whistleblowers from BCCI had contacted the bank of England
14:54
yet the bank of England did nothing the bank of England had plenty
14:59
of time to intervene and investigate but it did not do so because the tradition
15:06
at that time which still survives is that well actually you know you have to
15:11
just kind of send hints and talk over lunch tables with the chaps regulating
15:16
other chaps and all would be well Robin Lee pton the governor of the
15:23
bank of England at the time of the collapse of BCCI commented the present system of supervision has served the
15:29
community well if we closed down a bank every time we found an incident of fraud
15:35
you would have rather fewer Banks than we do at the moment London was a place for banks to
15:42
engage in business that was not allowed elsewhere where senior Bankers did not
15:47
have to worry about the consequences of their actions this is one of the reasons why
15:53
today there are more banks in London than in any other Financial Center in Britain nobody goes to jail no
16:00
Bankers go to jail they generally don't they are a protected species and that is part of the offshore business model of
16:07
the UK is to say we will protect you we will bring your money here we will look after you we're not going to put you in
16:12
prison we'll let you do what you
16:19
want light touch regulation was one way of attracting business to London another
16:25
was secrecy from the 1960s onwards city of London institutions began to establish
16:31
offshore branches in former outposts of the British Empire their aim was to create offshore centers with strong
16:38
secrecy legislation in order to attract capital from across the globe Swiss banking secrecy is the most
16:45
famous the most well-known you know put your money at Swiss bank and they won't they promise not to tell anybody and
16:50
that's one kind of secrecy but another kind of secrecy which is very British is the trust and the trust is a very um
16:59
slippery complicated and devious mechanism trusts emerged the legend has
17:05
it from the time of the Crusades when the knights would go off and fight in foreign lands and they would leave their
17:11
Assets in the care of trusted stewards what trusts do ultimately is they play
17:17
with the concept of ownership ownership is not such a simple thing so the
17:22
settore the knight in this case would hand over the assets to
17:29
someone who these days would be called a trustee it's often a lawyer legally you are separated from those assets they're
17:35
not yours anymore there's a barrier you can't be taxed on them you can't be nobody's going to find anything
17:41
about your connection to these Assets in Britain's offshore jurisdictions no qualifications are
17:48
necessary to be a trustee anyone can set up a trust and act as a truste there is
17:54
no registry of trusts there are no bodies to certify that a trust has has been set
18:00
up the only persons who know about the creation of this agreement are the
18:06
trustee and the setler there's no obligation to register it there is no
18:11
financial reporting obligation of trusts they are not required to put annual
18:16
statements onto account anywhere so actually trusts are to all intents and
18:22
purposes invisible Arrangements economist John Christensen
18:27
was an economic adviser to to the secrecy jurisdiction of Jersey for 10 years we're not talking about a few
18:33
million we're talking now about trillions trillions of dollars of
18:39
capital which apparently belong to nobody for tax purposes and for other purposes they belong to nobody
18:46
everything works of Arts gold bullion horse race horses cars real estate not
18:53
just Financial assets but a whole load of non-financial assets belong to these trusts
18:59
sitting there belonging to nobody now think that one through because we are
19:04
talking about maybe as much as $50 trillion of assets sitting offshore
19:11
Behind These instruments well the Cayman Islands are among several British overseas territories who have signed a
19:16
new information exchange agreement with Britain and the rest of Europe to tackle tax evasion the countries are now
19:23
required to automatically provide details of the ownership of bank accounts and how they're used kand beim
19:29
the first signatory last week it's important that the Cayman Islands should be recognized as the first overseas
19:36
territory to sign such an agreement with the United Kingdom and I think this
19:42
importantly reflects the constructive approach that the Cayman Islands has taken in delivering our shared objective
19:49
of rooting out tax evasion the trust lies at the core of
19:56
the British secrecy model they don't use banking secrecy the Swiss used banking secrecy the British of course are only
20:02
too willing to kill up banking secrecy because they will then capture a larger market share that's why the Brits are
20:08
doing this trusts are the basic building block
20:14
of anglosaxon secrecy and they form the basis from which complex offshore structures are
20:20
created every secrecy jurisdiction offers a specific set of services from
20:25
trusts to Shell companies to secret bank accounts and nominee directors the combination of these
20:31
Services into complex structures spanning multiple jurisdictions enables
20:37
the creation of secrecy structures that are almost impossible to penetrate an offshore structure will
20:45
often have a trust kind of sitting at the top of it the trust will be here managing the assets kind of controlling
20:51
the assets underneath it the trust will own some shell companies each one might
20:57
be in a different Juris so you might might have a trust in one jurisdiction whose trustees are somewhere else whose
21:03
beneficiaries are somewhere else which owns offshore companies somewhere else each of these companies might then own
21:10
assets so that they might own you know a bank account or race horse a yacht
21:15
painting um a portfolio of shares or whatever there are numerous variations
21:21
of trusts and offshore secrecy structures there are offshore lawyers whose work entails the creation of ever
21:28
more complex and obscure structures the aim of these structures is to hide the identity of the owners of
21:34
offshore assets and allow offshore wealth to be recycled back into Global
21:41
markets looking on the amount of money uh being administrated from tax Heavens
21:50
uh you see that it is a curb going like this and all the Talking we have been
21:55
doing along with other wonderful people fighting against tax ens has not changed
22:01
anything you know it is the word where you say go on talking and go on talking you're interesting me and I'm going on
22:09
doing what I want to do we know everything today because we have had the Panama papers we have seen it and we are
22:16
not able to act upon it and we are not
22:21
able to act upon it because this system is really protecting
22:28
the few people that are having benefit from it and these are in percentage very
22:36
few people but they are powerful and I see in the Panama
22:41
committee that I'm sitting in the only thing that could change this is to have
22:47
a public accessible register of the beneficial ownership of trusts and of
22:55
all kind of companies it is easy
23:01
the Panama papers are a collection of leaks from the offshore Law Firm mosac fona mosac fona is the fourth largest
23:09
offshore Law Firm the other nine of the 10 largest offshore law firms are registered in British overseas
23:19
jurisdictions when countries complain to Britain about the activities run out of its offshore Havens Britain claims that
23:26
these places are independent and that there is nothing it can do I've heard time and time again from officials in
23:33
Berlin and in Paris and in Washington and in other countries that they've been
23:38
told by the British government that yes they're well aware of what's going on in Jersey and they think it's very
23:44
unfortunate but they don't have the powers to intervene well that's a straightforward lie they do have the
23:51
powers to intervene they just choose not to Britain plays this kind of game of um
23:57
pretending ing when it suits them to pretend that these places are independent at the end of the day
24:03
Britain um appoints the governor appoints lots of um senior people in these places they are responsible for
24:10
foreign relations and defense and also they can veto their legislation as well so Britain has a massive degree of
24:16
control basically it is controlling these places allowing them a little bit of political
24:22
space during his time as economic adviser to Jersey John Christensen
24:27
frequently traveled to Lon for talks with various British government departments as economic adviser um I had
24:34
a lot of contact with different departments um traditionally UK
24:41
governments have tried not to interfere in the domestic affairs of places like
24:46
Jersey so it happens in a more subtle sort of way you can go and talk to someone either at the home office or the
24:51
treasury and they'd say we're not actually particularly keen on this piece of legislation it might be a good idea
24:57
if you didn't go down that route and over a cup of tea that's quite a strong signal that's a signal go back to the
25:04
island and say they don't want you to do this the British government prefers not
25:11
to interfere overtly instead it communicates its desires through informal discussions
25:18
there is no paper trail or official statement discussions take place behind closed
25:25
doors the relationship that these places have with with London is is very much um
25:31
about the British establishment and people understanding each other I mean anybody who knows who is British or knows a Brit British people knows that
25:39
communication between us is often very subtle and you have to kind of know the
25:47
codes when people say stuff I mean a lot of irony involved and um a lot of um
25:54
kind of codified language the British establishment that um people kind of
25:59
understand how it works and I think that is very much the case with the British
26:05
relationship with the tax Havens I think there's a lot of understanding of what we can and can't do without anyone
26:10
having to actually spell it out by keeping its power hidden Britain
26:16
is able to claim that these jurisdictions are politically
26:22
autonomous Independence for kayman is not on government's agenda that's the message being sent to the UN special
26:28
committee on decolonization attorney Steve mcfield will be representing government at the UN meeting the
26:33
committee was set up to help colonies around the world on the road to Independence but Mr mcfield says he'll
26:39
be making it clear that kman is not ready for that transition and that message is that the premier his cabinet
26:47
his party has no mandate from the people of the cman islands to seek Independence
26:52
that is the message that I will be carrying when the Bahamas declared
26:58
independence from Britain in 1967 the offshore Bankers relocated to the Cayman Islands and continued their
27:05
business from there it was the British connection that reassured bankers and their clients that
27:12
their money was safe this British Bedrock that is what has allowed these places to become so
27:18
trusted by the financial services industry and and offshore finance and all these
27:24
people in reality much of the wealth administered in Britain's offshore Havens is controlled from
27:31
London the city of London by and L likes to do its really dirty work outside
27:36
London they might have forbid be a regulator who actually takes the job seriously and starts to prosecute them
27:43
for fraud in London so better to do the frauds offshore in jalter or Jersey
27:50
where there's much less risk that a serious prosecution will ever happen deals are often discussed and
27:56
concluded in London but then registered offshore for tax transparency and
28:02
Regulatory purposes what they allow the city to do is to get involved in dirty business but
28:10
then when the Scandal hits to say Well they're kind of independent there's nothing we can do about those places
28:16
that's that's not us that's that's tax Haven activity and we're we're the city you know we're not involved in that kind
28:21
of stuff so it's an incredibly kind of convenient relationship the city of London has
28:28
shaped the the way in which Jersey gy and the British overas territories have
28:36
developed as tax Havens I I see these places as the Frankenstein created by by
28:43
the city of London today the UK is the world's
28:50
largest provider of International Financial Services the UK has an almost
28:56
unique role in global Finance um if you look at uh data the kind of data that
29:03
we've constructed in the financial secrecy index you can see the relative shares of each country in the global
29:11
provision of financial services exports that's Financial Services to non-residents now there are two big
29:19
centers and everything else is quite small in comparison the two large centers are the
29:25
United States with around 19% of the Global Market and the United Kingdom and
29:30
its offshore jurisdictions which have around 25% of the global market and if
29:36
you add to that uh other jurisdictions ex colonies but recently
29:42
independent fairly recently by which I mean Hong Kong Singapore maybe even
29:49
Dubai and Bahrain and Cyprus then you reach a figure of nearly
29:55
40% and I think that figure represent presents better the position of London in the
30:01
Global Financial Market the soldiers left the
30:07
administrators left all the colonies but they still kept a significant degree of
30:12
control over the financial flows from these former um the former parts of
30:17
empire in the rest of the world so you could describe it as a Second Empire um Britain's Second Empire sort of hidden
30:24
Financial Empire spanning large parts of the globe
30:30
at the time of the British Empire the city of London was the world's largest Global Financial
30:37
Center not only Britain's colonies but also independent countries did their
30:42
banking in London and useed the Empire's currency for trade and
30:48
financing as the Empire declined so too did the city of
30:54
London the establishment of the London Euro Market enabled city of London Banks
30:59
to continue to exploit their Empire Era networks and expertise and the creation of secrecy
31:05
jurisdictions gave Banks access to large amounts of cheap money International Banks from across
31:12
the globe set up branches in London and Britain's offshore jurisdictions in order to take advantage of this new
31:20
system this system has taken the place of the
31:25
occupation uh I mean up till 62 uh for France I don't know for
31:31
England but about the same time England were physically present in India for
31:36
instance or in in other colonies and when you look at the money flows through
31:45
the tax Heavens they are increasing when we withdraw from the
31:50
colonies we are still plundering developing countries as former Colonial
31:57
powers wealthy individuals organized crime and
32:03
corporations shifted their wealth offshore in exchange for secrecy and no
32:09
tax and as countries around the world began to deregulate and open their economies it became ever easier to do
32:16
so today as much as half of all Global offshore wealth may be hidden in
32:22
Britain's secrecy jurisdictions one of the losers is
32:27
Africa whose flight Capital flows mostly into the modern British spiders
32:34
web I think it's no coincidence that Britain's offshore Empire emerged more or less at
32:42
the same time as the collapse of the former Empire we tend to think of Africa
32:48
as being a huge net deta to the rest of the world but that was the extent of
32:55
their debts at the end of 20087 77 billion the debt of subsaharan African
33:01
nations stood at $177 billion in 2008 yet the wealth these country's
33:08
Elites had moved offshore between 1970 and 2008 is estimated at
33:14
$944 billion over five times their foreign
33:19
debt $944 billion do the maths far from being a
33:26
net debt Africa subsaharan Africa is a net
33:32
creditor to the rest of the world as capital moved offshore African nations
33:37
borrowed money from International Banks at high interest over time these debts became so
33:44
great that they may never be repaid secrecy jurisdictions were
33:50
starving developing nations of their wealth and their tax revenues for a long
33:55
time a lot of developing countries including recently Ecuador have been trying to set up a un tax body which is
34:02
of a higher value than what is currently there which is the UN tax committee and every time this has happened it has
34:08
gotten blocked during the financing for development process in Adis Ababa last year uh I think it was the UK and the US
34:16
that blocked attempts again to set up this uh World tax organization so why
34:22
would they not want to have Democratic decision making in GL Global decisions
34:29
on how tax gets collected across borders I don't understand this as long as we
34:34
have crossborder activity that involves both criminal and legal activity as long as we're unable to separate the two this
34:40
is going to continue to be a problem Western Nations block attempts
34:47
to provide greater transparency of International Financial flows and the implementation of global standards for
34:53
the collection of tax across borders whilst Elites in veloping Nations use offshore centers to hide
35:00
their wealth offshore the oil from gaboom has not benefited people in gabo and this is
35:08
true for the copper in Zambia for the for the gold in Mambi or in Mali they
35:16
have benefited the company that do extract it and they are
35:23
shareholders it has benefited the corrupt Elite in the country in developing countries the offshore system
35:30
of tax Havens has facilitated the Looting of these countries by their Elites um it has enabled them to steal
35:39
the money and keep it safe somewhere else illicit Financial flows because the
35:44
anonymity that drives them creates incentives for people in positions of power to be corrupt this is why there's
35:52
a group of countries where development progress is so difficult it's that the
35:58
incentives of individuals and the ability to pursue them through all the mechanisms that underpay elicit flows
36:05
outweigh the type of mechanisms that that lead you to a powerful
36:10
representative effective state that can start to deliver
36:25
development worldwide developing countries lose over a trillion dollars every year in capital flight and tax
36:33
evasion most of this wealth flows into large Western Nations like the United States and Britain and enables their
36:41
currencies to stay strong whilst developing nations currencies remain
36:46
weak but illicit flows into Western Nations also had another unexpected side
36:52
effect the economies of the United States and Britain began to financialized
36:59
the origins of this financialization or deindustrialization go back to the
37:05
1960s anti-war demonstrators protest us involvement in the Vietnam War in Mass
37:11
marches rallies and demonstrations President Johnson meanwhile let it be known that the FBI is closely watching
37:17
all anti-war activity in the 1960s us Economist Michael Hudson was working at
37:24
Chase Manhattan Bank on Wall Street as Chasers balance of payments Economist
37:29
during the 1960s the United States uh balance of payments deficit was entirely
37:35
a result of foreign military expenditures dollars were flowing out of the United States as a result of the
37:42
cost of the Vietnam War the United States attempted to prevent the dollars flowing to Vietnam from being deposited
37:49
in foreign Banks the government asked Chase to set up a branch in Saigon
37:54
during the Vietnam war and as you can imagine it didn't have Windows was sort of a fortress it lost money but uh the
38:01
government uh went to chase because it said if you don't get this uh money that's being thrown off by the military
38:07
in uh Vietnam then it's going to go into French banks it'll get to General de gal and you know what he's going to do every
38:13
month he's going to cash it in for gold that's what the United States was trying to
38:19
stop the US was not successful in stopping the outflow of money so it
38:24
began to hatch a different plan in 1967 Michael Hudson was handed a memo
38:30
by a former State Department employee in 1967 uh I was given by a former State
38:37
Department employee uh in the elevator at Chase Manhattan a memo from the state
38:43
department urging that Chase Manhattan would uh take the lead in helping the United States become the Switzerland of
38:51
the world meaning the flight Capital the state department uh through Chase asked me to estimate how much money do you
38:58
think is available if America were to become the new Switzerland and how do we do it uh the plan was to organize
39:05
Offshore Banking centers uh in the Caribbean and elsewhere and the hot money wouldn't come directly into Chase
39:12
because that wouldn't be uh nice and very legal what happened was that uh the
39:18
Latin American criminals other criminals drug dealers uh all sorts of organized
39:23
crime would put their money in the offshore Caribbean Banks and these
39:28
offshore Banks would then uh deposit the inflow in the head
39:34
office by moving offshore dollars back into the United States the US was able
39:40
to stop the outflow of dollars and support the value of its
39:46
currency every country looks to its foreign exchange rate and uh the foreign
39:51
exchange rate is not only imports and exports it's Capital movements uh and if you look at the intern National monetary
39:58
funds uh monthly International financial statistics uh you have sort of a steady
40:03
balance of trade a steady immigrants remittances what goes up and down are called errors and omissions uh what the
40:10
United Nations and uh the IMF call errors and omissions are flight Capital it's the uh the reason that it's omitted
40:17
is uh they don't like to really look at this uh in the 1930s uh Roy ID Hall
40:22
Economist for the US Commerce Department wanted to include uh criminal movements
40:28
in the balance of payment statistics and uh Congress got very upset I I I was
40:34
told in Washington the the uh argument was we're a Christian country we don't want to report crime it's just don't
40:41
look at it uh and uh they they forbid him to uh include uh criminal money in
40:47
the balance of payments I guess now you call it errors and omissions you don't call it uh criminal inflow and
40:56
outflow in the 1960s and '70s Britain was faced with a similar dilemma as the
41:01
United States money was flowing out and this decreased the value of the
41:07
pound Britain realized that it too could support the value of its currency by opening its domestic markets to the
41:14
trillions of dollars passing through its offshore Havens but just as in the United States
41:21
this had an unexpected side effect the British Banks uh today uh just as in the
41:26
19 Century don't put their money into British manufacturing they put their money into real estate speculation into
41:34
Financial speculation foreign currency trade uh so uh the financialization of
41:40
London has uh helped de-industrialized the country because it's enabled uh Sterling to be supported by this huge
41:47
inflow of hot money this inflow of uh drug dealing money and criminal money
41:53
and tax evasion money all over the world uh that is going to to London instead of going to Switzerland lonstein or the
42:06
Caribbean with the silent backing of the United States Britain's offshore Havens
42:11
grew rapidly and before long the offshore system developed into the world's dominant International Financial
42:19
Market few were aware how this Market functioned in 1986 economist John
42:26
Christensen went offshore to investigate he applied for a position at the Jersey
42:31
office of one of the world's major accounting firms but Delo and touch I was um I was working in what's called
42:37
company and Trust Administration straightforward offshore stuff I went offshore specifically to work in that
42:44
area because that's where you're dealing with the offshore companies the shell companies the offshore trusts and you're
42:50
administering them that way I could I could see from working inside a big
42:55
Global accounting firm exactly what the clients were doing I had complete access
43:02
to all the client files and over the course of my period of working with deoe
43:08
touch I investigated over a hundred of their clients offshore and this is what
43:14
I found there were some Insider Traders some Market rigging some avoiding
43:19
disclosure of conflict of interest illicit arms trading illicit political campaign donations contract Kickbacks
43:25
bribery ful invoice ing trade mispricing and at the bottom tax evasion okay this
43:33
is what the clients were [Music] doing the basis of a sample of the
43:40
clients that I looked at not a single client was involved in what I would regard as genuinely legitimate activity
43:46
they were all involved in some kind of tax dodging or uh
43:52
worse I met with Carl Leen he used to be an American senator
43:58
and he made a lot of inquiries into private banking asking question to the
44:04
bankers what do you think the percentage is among your clients that are using
44:11
these companies for legitimate purposes and the answer was I believe
44:18
that 99.9% of my clients are using these companies for illicit
44:25
purposes this is a reality this is American Bankers telling what they are
44:31
doing and it's exactly the same thing with uh UK
44:36
Bankers helping their clients to have accounts in Panama or in Bermuda or in
44:43
kimman [Music] Islands secrecy jurisdictions are
44:50
heavily used for fraudulent and gray area Financial activities areas where secrecy is not
44:56
just as desirable but a necessity legitimate Financial activity
45:02
has no need for the secrecy offshore Havens provide nor a desire to pay the high fees offshore Banks and law firms
45:13
charge today close to half of the world's secrecy jurisdictions are British
45:19
dependencies in public these jurisdictions claim they are transparent and their financial services sectors are
45:26
engaged in legitimate Financial activities our economy is not based on secrecy it's uh it's based on
45:34
transparency it's based on a sound regulatory environment uh it's based on
45:41
good governance and good government uh with a British government uh legal
45:47
system that's what our uh financial institutions are based on well tonight we have a response from the head of kman
45:54
Finance after a group of us-based anti-tax tax evasion activists announced plans to travel to kayman to draw
46:00
attention to what they feel is corporate tax evasion Finance chairman Mr Richard Cole says he's encouraging the group to
46:06
visit and says our financial sector has nothing to hide I would say if anybody wants to come to cman to find out what
46:13
what's coming you know what we do here come on down we Have No Secrets
46:20
here when I went to the Cayman Islands um back in 2008 I think it was I called
46:26
the government spokesman he said okay we have had an order from onh high that nobody is allowed to speak to you you
46:32
are off limits in 2011 journalist Nicholas Shon released
46:39
Treasure Islands a groundbreaking book about the offshore system the author of
46:44
a series of international media reports says he would welcome a debate with kayman Finance chair Tony Travers Mr
46:50
Travers recently called Nicholas Shon an imbecile with the understanding of an of an 11-year-old there always going to be
46:58
the politics of Envy now the Pol politics of Envy are exacerbated by uh
47:04
imbeciles who don't actually understand what's going on in the Cayman Islands I don't know what what he's talking about
47:09
and and furthermore he doesn't know what he's talking about the Cayman Islands is the fifth
47:16
largest financial center in the world it hosts 80,000 registered companies over
47:23
34s of the world's hedge funds and 1 9 trillion in
47:28
deposits it has a population of 60,000 roughly equivalent to New York's
47:34
homeless population a strange mixture of
47:41
characters populate the offshore World British exu school boys members of the
47:47
world's intelligence Services Global criminals assorted Lords and Ladies and
47:53
bankers Galore [Music] with so much at stake for so many
47:59
wealthy and Powerful individuals it may come as no surprise that Britain's offshore Havens have developed their own
48:05
curious mechanisms to prevent information from leaking out for many people who work
48:14
offshore and who don't like what they're doing it's very hard indeed to descent
48:20
because they will be attacked personally with a degree of viciousness which is quite extraordinary
48:27
most of the time the the instruments of suppression are relatively sophisticated
48:32
you might get promotion by doing this or you your family won't like
48:38
it it's not generally let's slam them in prison that's far too crude we are
48:43
talking about very substantially you know the establishment the British establishment in in these cases the the
48:50
mechanisms are very very subtle sort of ostracism is is is one way of doing it
48:55
um these peculiar mechanisms for you know if someone tries to to blow the
49:00
whistle you find all sorts of methods that aren't the mo you know just fire them you give them far too much work to
49:06
do you steer them in a different direction one person who is intimately
49:12
familiar with how suppression Works offshore is former Jersey senator and health Minister Stuart
49:19
Civ in 2009 he leaked a report on a rogue nurse suspected of killing
49:25
patients at jerseys Hospital it all came to a head during a States debate on Tuesday the 10th of March
49:32
Senator Stuart Civ brought the sitting to a standstill claiming Senator Jimmy pershard had sworn at him and told him
49:39
to go and top himself Senator pershard denied the claim saying I absolutely
49:44
refute that but less than a week later he was forced to admit he had lied Senator pershard has now admitted that
49:51
on another occasion he did tell Senator Stuart Civ to go and do everyone a favor
49:56
and slipped his wrists I was uh arrested at my house one morning uh by uh six plain clo police
50:05
officers there were another two specialist data search police officers on hand and also another two police
50:11
officers in full body arm of one of those battering rams they kind of used in drugs reads so 10 uh police officers
50:17
descended on me without a without a search warrant the property was turned over from top to bottom all of the
50:24
computers were seized and searched all kinds of of private constituency data was stolen by the
50:31
police shortly after we began filming a police officer exited the police station
50:37
as he hurried past he grinned at the camera the officer was on his way to
50:43
test the sirens on his motorbike which he did at intervals throughout much of the remainder of the interview when it
50:50
came to Prosecuting me Stuart Civ was prosecuted under the
50:56
data Protection Law now when the authorities were Prosecuting me I claimed that this was a legitimate
51:03
public interest disclosure defense and I with an expert witness was able to produce a set of reports that
51:09
effectively destroyed the prosecution case in reaction to this the magistrates
51:16
ruled that Stuart C's defense case that he had leaked the report in the public interest would no longer be admissible
51:24
but continued to prosecute him all the same without a defense case over the past 7
51:30
years Stuart Civ has been repeatedly taken to court and imprisoned three
51:35
times he does not know when or if the persecution will end nor does he know
51:41
when he will find himself Behind Bars again to look at Jersey from the outside
51:48
it looks like it's got a prosecution system it looks like it's got a court and A legislature but none of it's real
51:56
it's a hkin Village none of these systems in Jersey meet the tests of
52:02
being objective of being objective or actually functioning properly the experience that
52:09
Stuart civy had is you know he's perhaps at the at the blunder end of of the
52:16
scale you know he was simply suppressed and taken to court on trumped
52:22
up charges so carry on being let carry on tend to do the interview they might get
52:29
[Music] bored this is the kind of this is the kind of how oppression happens in Jersey
52:35
see all kinds of little things get done to harass people you know even they
52:40
don't often go to the kind of extremes that they did against me in terms of actually arresting me and putting me in prison but uh the authorities use all
52:47
kinds of other lesser little methods to interfere with people kind of sabotage
52:54
things you know uh obstruct people will make life difficult for people you know if you annoy the establishment in Jersey
53:01
you won't get a job here you know you know your children won't get decent jobs you know that's kind of how how it works
53:07
you know I went to Jersey in March 29 with
53:13
with Nick shackson about 24 hours after we arrived in Jersey we were there for several days Nick said did you know that
53:20
have you noticed that we're being followed ever since we arrived in at the airport we've been followed he said
53:27
don't look now but we're being followed now turns out he was quite correct we
53:32
were being followed and I found that very disturbing very disturbing
53:44
indeed they have a saying in Jersey if you don't like it here there's always a
53:50
boat in the morning Jersey finally an promotional
53:57
literature States Jersey represents an extension of the city of London it's
54:03
where the city of London chooses to do many of the activities which they couldn't do in London
54:09
itself we're here just to talk about this one company called applebe I just read what they say on their website
54:15
members of The Firm applebe have gone on not only to political office but also um in a number of centers Bermuda Jersey
54:22
the IR man and the Cayman Islands to senior judicial office so essentially they're boasting of the
54:29
fact that their staff and their Partners have a real interchange between the people that are in power in these
54:34
offshore Financial Centers the same lawyers and accountants who set up and administer offshore
54:40
trusts also occupy senior political positions in Britain's offshore world
54:46
most politicians are in business they Lobby for business and promote business
54:52
interests they draft refine and pass legislation politicians sit on the boards of the
54:59
companies they are supposed to
55:04
regulate there is no place for dirty money in Britain indeed there should be
55:11
no place for Dirty Money anywhere the challenge I'm laying down for every country today is to root out the rot of
55:18
corruption to ensure transparency over what your own companies are doing require transparency for foreign
55:25
companies in your country too and work with us to spread this approach to transparency around the
55:33
world in public British politicians claim they're cracking down on secrecy
55:39
jurisdictions and Corruption but in practice they do the opposite I when I talk to politicians in
55:46
Brussels they say that they've had more lobbyists from
55:53
London and including politicians come to them to protect the city of London's
55:58
interests and they've had from every other European member State combined which gives you some idea of the extent
56:04
to which British politicians see themselves as essentially lobbyists for the city of
56:10
London we begin with our big story kayman's efforts to ensure transparency in its Financial Services sector is
56:16
being recognized by the International Community earlier this week the UK's Prime Minister David Cameron told
56:22
Parliament that the tax Haven label placed on its crown dependencies and overseas territories is
56:31
unfair many British politicians have personal and business ties with the city of London and British secrecy
56:38
jurisdictions former British Prime Minister David Cameron's father Ian Cameron was an expert in offshore funds
56:46
and was involved in offshore trusts from the 1980s onwards at this Courthouse
56:51
behind me here in St Helia we found this it's a document called a a grant of
56:57
probate and it's attached to the English will of none other than Ian Cameron David Cameron's father say hello to M
57:03
and Dad Hi how are you good to see you Ian Cameron was certainly a wealthy man
57:08
in 2009 his personal Fortune was estimated by researchers for the Sunday Times rich list at1 million yet when Ian
57:16
Cameron died in 2010 his estate was much smaller than might be expected just 2.7
57:23
million in many cases it's the politicians and their cronies and their families and so on and the business
57:29
people who sponsor the the political parties who are using these offshore
57:34
Services themselves so so they've got no personal interest in closing it down if they wanted to close it down they could
57:39
do it tomorrow the fact of the matter is they don't want to do it because they themselves are complicit with the
57:45
process if you come from the same kind of background you know the right people
57:50
then all the kind of legal niceties will will often fall away you can get away with doing all sorts of things that they
57:57
wouldn't just let any old person you know if you came knocking on the door saying can you set up an offshore company to do this they'd tell you to
58:03
get lost but if you're part of the networks you can you can do these kinds of things um so that's a very important
58:09
part of the um part of the whole system upper class British Public School kind
58:14
of um establishment that has been there since you know for
58:21
centuries the British establishment an old boys network of privileged Elites
58:27
had carved out a lucrative Niche for themselves in the offshore world after the demise of
58:33
Empire they transformed themselves from administrators of empire into Financial
58:38
handlers for the global Elite and multinational corporations as more money flowed
58:44
offshore societies around the globe began to feel the impact of the offshore
58:50
world the reality is not what you believe that um your prime minister has
58:57
uh the power to to decide on the future of your country the power is hidden
59:05
here we have country after country around the world where the lack of
59:10
financial transparency about taxation about ownership about corruption has
59:16
undermined the extent to which governments deliver representative policymaking for their citizens you know
59:23
we have extreme cases like the the high of um tax evasion by people in finance
59:30
Ministries in Greece in France um but we also have this system that in general is
59:37
geared towards Anonymous Company ownership the anonymous ownership of properties across London of half of the
59:44
land in Scotland you know do we really think there's any circumstances in which
59:49
governments work better in which markets work better in which the distribution of income and assets is better
59:56
when we allow so much to be hidden who wants to not know who you're doing business with who wants their government
1:00:03
to have people working for it or to be led by people whose assets are hidden
1:00:10
whose Financial transactions um are are conducted anonymously offshore you know
1:00:16
this is a bad direction for the world we need the citizens to understand what is
1:00:21
happening that they are the ones who is carrying the burden and that uh some
1:00:28
individuals having the power are exonerating themselves Ordinary People
1:00:33
are paying taxes rich people are not so this is
1:00:40
inequality and it is leading up to populism because it shows so clearly
1:00:47
that the people today leading the world are not able to take care of the
1:00:52
interest of Ordinary People
1:00:59
back in the 60s and 70s you know tax evasion or or pushing back against
1:01:05
taxation it was kind of seen as anti-establishment so you know the Rolling Stones and um Phil Collins all
1:01:11
these people kind of going offshore going away um it was seen as a sort of rebellious thing to do and if you fast
1:01:18
forward to the present day um now that is the establishment the offshore system
1:01:24
is the establishment today offshore is the way Elites and
1:01:29
multinational corporations conduct their Affairs tax evasion is the way business
1:01:34
is done this kind of sophisticated cheating
1:01:41
requires a huge infrastructure we like to talk about the Pinstripe
1:01:46
infrastructure of Highly Educated people who think it is their right to help
1:01:52
others to cheat societies we have a new mafia in town it does not
1:01:59
actually shoot people does not put bullets in their kneecaps but this trade is just as deadly it deprives people of
1:02:07
opportunities to have health care education security Justice and
1:02:14
essentially a fulfilling life accountants form the backbone of
1:02:20
the offshore system they administer the structures that allow individuals and corporations to shift their money
1:02:26
offshore and evade taxes there are about 2.5 million
1:02:31
professionally qualified accountants on this planet about 330,000 are in the UK
1:02:38
well-known people well-dressed wellfed highly paid are sitting in City Center
1:02:43
offices and they are paid to dream up tax avoidance schemes for individuals
1:02:49
and for corporations we can all elect a government which says vote for us we
1:02:55
will will give you better health care better education better security and next they
1:03:02
accountant say sorry about that folks you elected this government but we actually got a tax avoidance scheme and
1:03:07
the Amazon and the Googles and microsofts won't be paying any taxes in your jurisic and too bad you voted for
1:03:13
it but actually you're going to get something else so it's a crazy world that part of the business model at Big
1:03:19
accountancy firms is how to deny public the services by erosion of of tax
1:03:26
revenues and these firms are then rewarded with government funded contracts and the same firms are then
1:03:34
advising uh go uh local governments and the central governments and the same
1:03:40
firms then report on the company accounts and tell us all is well when I argue this with a price Waterhouse
1:03:46
partner in a face-to-face debate he said Professor Sika you never give us credit for anything we generate millions of
1:03:53
dollars of revenues and we have lots and lots of satisfied clients what is your
1:03:59
problem and my response was very simple that's the language of drug pushers and
1:04:07
[Music]
1:04:13
pimps in Britain a new breed of civil servant was rising to the
1:04:19
top one such civil servant was Dave Harnet Who Rose to the top of hmrc the
1:04:25
UK tax Authority Dave Harnet had a new way of
1:04:31
collecting tax deals would be negotiated on an individual basis behind closed
1:04:37
doors in the case of the largest clients Dave hartnet frequently led the negotiations
1:04:45
himself British Telecom was one of the first companies through the program and received a refund of over1
1:04:52
billion BT's chief executive Ben f wrote earnings per share up 14% And nice to
1:05:00
know that we have A1 billion pound credit from the taxman Dave hartnet claimed this
1:05:07
approach was more efficient litigation in the courts is really phenomenally expensive in this
1:05:13
day and age all over the world um and I think is to be avoided where possible um
1:05:20
and the AR is to persuade people to pay by strength of argument and the like ta
1:05:27
your your your after protests erupted in 2011 the treasury select committee
1:05:35
questioned Dave hartnet Dave hartnet claimed he could not give any information due to taxpayer
1:05:42
confidentiality what in statute prevents you from disclosing information to
1:05:48
Parliament all my advice Mr Barkley so far has been that um I am prevented my
1:05:55
colleague are prevented um by the act and by the decision of the
1:06:02
Commissioners Dave Harnet failed to mention that the legal advice he had received stated that the disclosure of
1:06:08
information was at the discretion of the head of hmrc the head of hmrc was Dave Harnet
1:06:17
himself just like the mafia has penetrated the state accountancy firms have also penetrated the state at the
1:06:24
head of anti avoid in the UK uh tax Authority uh is from one of these
1:06:31
firms the newly appointed chairman of Her Majesty's revenue and Customs which is a tax Authority is their partner from
1:06:39
KPMG their Partners have penetrated the state they are running the
1:06:45
treasury Britain's Financial Services industry had penetrated the state and
1:06:51
began to shape its laws for its own benefit the degree of capture political capture
1:06:59
by the city of London by the big Banks and the big law firms is so enormous
1:07:04
that the politicians have effectively become their
1:07:10
spokespersons with the government unwilling to act in the interest of the public a group of protesters confronted
1:07:16
Dave haret at a private event in
1:07:22
Oxford hi everybody I'm sorry to interrupt going to take a few moments of your time here tonight to present da
1:07:29
with an award it is the Lifetime Achievement Award for services to corporate tax
1:07:38
planning thank you thank you very much J has been a
1:07:43
great friend to the industry a great friend to many of us over the years and you know really we just can't thank him
1:07:49
enough what he's done obviously us at Voda phone um you know it saved us billions off our tax bill and our
1:07:56
friends at Goldman Sachs as well we've also saved us Millions 25 Milli
1:08:02
everybody these people are trespassers and Intruders and I know you have
1:08:07
problems consp to trespass and you will go you will depart immediately before we
1:08:14
set the dogs on you
1:08:35
okay go you're trespassing Sor you're trespassing scum
1:08:47
go after his retirement Dave hartnet moved to the private sector one of his
1:08:53
positions was at accountancy firm to L where he advises foreign governments on
1:08:58
corporate taxation Dave hartnet is a companion of
1:09:05
the order of the bath an honor bestowed on him by the British
1:09:13
monarch we have former uh Le ministers acting as advisers to accountancy firms
1:09:20
accountancy firms provide jobs and consultancies for potential ministers to
1:09:25
my mind really it's an indication of corrupt structures people are buying and selling influences when a former
1:09:32
Minister works for an accountancy firm is not providing any accounting knowledge is opening political
1:09:39
opportunities home and abroad that is what they are doing I hope by now you'll
1:09:44
share my view that I don't trust most Bankers I don't trust most lawyers I don't trust most accounting firms I
1:09:50
actually think they're engaged in a conspiracy against public interest
1:09:57
in Britain secrecy and complexity in finance and government help to obscure
1:10:02
corruption in public office Financial structures are often so complex that
1:10:08
even after they are publicly revealed they are not widely recognized for what they are an example of this is PFI the
1:10:17
private Finance initiative PFI is private Finance initiative it is a way
1:10:23
of funding public infrastructure things like hospitals schools roads and bridges
1:10:29
but financing them via the private sector rather than Historical Method which is via central government over a
1:10:36
period of 30 to 40 years the amount of kind of repayment costs will be sort of 3 or 4 times higher overall than if you
1:10:43
borrowed it from central government in the first place so it's basically a giant accounting
1:10:49
scam once the PFI policy has been set up um you find that the big four
1:10:55
accountancy firms were actually um paid members of Staff within the treasury
1:11:01
Department who would then actually going around and selling and Advising upon the
1:11:06
imple implementation of PFI contracts by public authorities effectively saying come to
1:11:13
us and we will show you how to derive the most benefit from it in other words how to perhaps exploit the legislation
1:11:21
even the offices of the state tax Authority are now own offshore hmrc
1:11:28
which is the the tax collector here in the UK their officers are owned in
1:11:35
Bermuda by a company called mapley steps it's quite
1:11:40
incredible the company that owns the PFI contract to run hmrc's head office
1:11:46
borrowed money from offshore investors at 15% interest because the interest was so
1:11:53
high the company was losing losing money therefore it did not pay
1:11:59
tax in 2011 hmrc could not prove that any PFI
1:12:05
company was paying any tax in the UK I think we have a serious
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conversation about the the role of government in this whole tobacco and how much our government has been penetrated
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by big Banks and accountancy firms and ultimately in whose interest it operates
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the reason we were protesting outside the Africa PPP conference is that we wanted to make sure that citizens back
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in Africa should hear about the fact that such policies have been a complete failure here in the UK we know that
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these products are not being marketed to African countries in their own best interests the only motivation is to
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spread the reach of financial services into new markets it's all being promoted in the interest of the city of London
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what you're seeing is a basically a second form of colonialization you've had initially occupation resource
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extraction um you know and through that process you know countries like brisan
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which have had a a large offshore Empire have developed significant networks and now are those networks being used to
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provide promote and exploit Financial
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Services the city of London was the beating Financial heart of the British
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Empire as Britain's Empire declined the city transformed itself from a hub
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operating the financial Machinery of empire into a Global Financial Center
1:13:56
former insignificant outposts of Empire became the basis for a spiders web of
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offshore secrecy jurisdictions that captured wealth from across the globe and funneled it to the city of
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London today 25% of international finance is conducted on British
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territory almost half of the world's secrecy jurisdictions are under British
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protection up to half of all offshore wealth may be hidden in in Britain's offshore
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Havens Financial Services is how Britain's Elites make their money and it
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is also where former government ministers senior civil servants and retired Spooks from MI5 and MI6 receive
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lucrative Consulting positions after their time in public service together they have transformed
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Britain and its dependencies into the world's largest tax Haven harming
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development throughout the world and turning Britain itself into a country that serves above all the interests of
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