Sunday, April 10, 2016

Current News: `Panama Papers´



The news flies so fast these days thay there is some `old information´in this video, which is less than a week old - the recent resignation of Iceland´s Prime Minister - but it will help us review some useful vocabulary about this piece of news, `Panama Papers¨:
  • leak
  • firm (law firm) 
  • Panama-based
  • wealth / wealthy
  • offshore
  • deal
  • loan
  • tax haven
  • money laundering
  • tax evasion
  • resign


 

TRANSCRIPT:

Over 11 million leaked documents from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca reveal how some of the world's richest and most powerful people hide their wealth in tax havens. It's claimed secret offshore deals and loans worth two billion dollars are linked to the inner circle of Vladimir Putin, although the Russian president is not himself named in the files, which allegedly show some firms domiciled in tax havens were being used for suspected money laundering and tax evasion. Ukranian president Petro Poroshenko's listed as having offshore wealth, one of 12 current or former leaders mentioned. 
Around 60 people with close ties to leaders also feature, including former Chinese prime minister Li Peng's daughter Li Xiaolin. Argentina's president Mauricio Macri, making headlines recently for the right reasons by hosting president Obama, is named in the data leak, as is Iceland's prime minister Sigmundur Gunnlaugsson, now under pressure to resign amid claims he failed to declare a stake in an offshore firm. There's also embarassment for Britain's prime minister David Cameron, whose late father is listed as a client to the law firm, although there's no suggestion he did anything wrong. And it's not only politicians who are implicated in the leaks with world Footballer of the Year Lionel Messi and Michel Platini, the former head of European football's governing body UEFA, also on the list. Owning an offshore firm is not in itself illegal, but with this leak raising claims of illicit activities, the ball in now in Mossack Fonseca's court.

This article is reblogged from `The English Blog´


No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...