Tax havens

Two of the Nordics’ biggest banks, Nordea and Danske Bank, are involved in a money laundering scandal that involves billions of Danish krona, reports Berlingske. They are cooperating with authorities over possible incidents of money laundering via their overseas branches from 2011 to 2014, it added.
The Danish newspaper cites investigations into authorities in countries including Latvia and Moldova, which show that large amounts of money passed through Danish banks into tax havens like the Seychelles and Panama. The origin of the money is not certain, but sources point to Russian organized crime. Meanwhile, according to Berlingske, fourteen Moldovan judges have been arrested and are awaiting trial for aiding the perpetrators.

Multinational corporations rob developing countries of 100 billion dollars every year by using tax avoidance schemes, global charity Oxfam said in a report released Monday.

The charity said tax dodging by multinational corporations cost poor nations vital resources that would be enough to provide an education "for the 124 million children who aren’t in school and fund healthcare interventions that could prevent the deaths of at least 6 million children every year."

Called "Tax Battles: the dangerous race to the bottom on corporate tax," the full ranking of the world’s top offenders is: (1) Bermuda; (2) the Cayman Islands; (3) the Netherlands; (4) Switzerland; (5) Singapore; (6) Ireland; (7) Luxembourg; (8) Curaçao; (9) Hong Kong; (10) Cyprus; (11) Bahamas; (12) Jersey; (13) Barbados; (14) Mauritius; and (15) the British Virgin Islands.