Grigory Yavlinsky web-site, 07.04.2016

— You keep money in an offshore! — journalists said.

— We know it, — the Russian government responded.

And they did not lie here. A rare case.

(The style reminiscent of classics:

– What happened to the submarine?

– She drowned.

We have seen this. Creative cynicism.)

“Recent years have clearly shown that, despite the objective proclaimed by large business to achieve greater transparency and openness, at present the governments still know less about the real situation and financial flows in large companies than it was, say, forty or fifty years ago.”

Grigory Yavlinsky “Recession of Capitalism”: offshores and corruption

What will happen now? Nothing! In the present Russian system of the power (the executive, the judiciary, and the representative) and property (business) are merged together, so no one will try to find out [what is happening], or seek [the answer], nor to investigate. And he even will not be able to. And there are no such people [in the present system of power]… By the way, that is how all the “fight” of public activists against corruption is conducted: they complain to corrupt officials about corruption. Not even [they complain] to one person on the other, often they complain [about violations] directly to the same corrupt persons [who did this].

“According to the figures emerging in the press, the amount of funds withdrawn into “special” jurisdictions exceeded ten trillion dollars… And how can one find it out if, for example, someone may invest into a US fund, which has subsidiaries in the Caymans through a Panamanian company communication with which is proposed via a consulting agency registered in Liechtenstein? “.

Grigory Yavlinsky “Recession of Capitalism”: offshores and corruption

And what will the people say? They will say nothing. People are well aware that this is not their state, and they pay contribution, rather than taxes. So that the state would leave them alone. People know that they do not influence anything in the country, that they are not really represented anywhere and that no one really asks them about anything. People have no idea where this money goes and how it is spent. What is the difference to the people, where the master is hiding money – in an offshore or in a bank? People only buy off from the predatory group which, posing as a state, is sitting on the back of the neck and sucks oil.

“Given the closed nature of the financial information on tax shelters, the data on the losses that they cause to other countries certainly vary, but for each of the G7 countries (or the G8, given that Russia in this regard is no exception), they range from a few dozens to hundred and more billions of dollars a year. ”

Grigory Yavlinsky “Recession of Capitalism”: offshores and corruption

In 2011, in my book “Recession of Capitalism”, I wrote in detail, what offshore companies are used for. The case of Panamanian offshore companies shows all this very clearly.

First published on Grigory Yavlinsky web-site

http://www.yavlinsky.ru/news/ekonomika/panama