The publication of documents about Panamanian offshore companies has excited the whole world. However, why is everyone so obsessed with Panama? After all, money can be “laundered” much closer, for example in Germany or Britain, writes the German publication Die Welt. And even much larger amounts than those mentioned in the revealing materials.
Photo source: Pravda.Ru archive
Kleptocrats thrive in the most fashionable areas of London - from Whitehall to Baker Street. Not only is luxury real estate located here, but also the most expensive in the country.
And billionaires from all over the world have settled into London's luxury real estate market without worry, while they themselves often remain in the shadows. Today, more than 350 thousand houses and apartments in the most desirable and prestigious areas of the British capital are in the hands of foreign investors.
For example, Sheikh Khalifa from the UAE is the owner of property in the city on the banks of the Thames, the value of which is estimated at 1.2 billion pounds. The President of Pakistan and the political elite of Nigeria have invested considerable funds in London neighborhoods, albeit through Panamanian offshore companies.
Journalists from ICIJ showed the world a tiny offshore oasis organized by the Panamanian company Mossack Fonseca. However, not a word was said about how money is laundered in the UK. And this cannot but cause surprise. After all, it was the prim United Kingdom that became the gateway to offshore oases for the European Union, says Carsten Randt from the German bar association Flick Gocke Schaumburg.
Also, this revealing report did not say anything about the United States. Although let's say that in Delaware there are a huge number of offshore companies that have made tax concealment a typical business model.
At the same time, for several years, Americans have been using economic pressure to force other states to release information about the financial and tax activities of their citizens abroad. They themselves are in no hurry to share such data, the authors of the material in Die Welt note. The high standards that the United States imposes on other countries are not popular at home.
There may be up to 2 million offshore companies in the world, says Jason Sherman, an expert specializing in studying money laundering mechanisms. Mossack Fonseca helped 200 thousand of them get things done.
Not only criminals, but also politicians and big businessmen try to make their incomes opaque by resorting to the services of such “safe havens”. And only against the backdrop of the Panama scandal can one assume that governments will now increase pressure on similar organizations around the world.
The United Kingdom attracts wealthy investors seeking to anonymously secure their capital, not only with real estate in the tasty areas of London: it is foreigners who enjoy conditions here that are not just attractive, but paradise from a tax point of view. First of all, this concerns London itself, say the authors of the material in the German publication.
Anyone who registers their place of residence in the British capital pays taxes only on income received in the UK. Often money ends up in financial structures that exist only here: these are British trust funds that allow you to maintain anonymity.
At the same time, it is from London that it is easiest to gain access to tax havens. In first place are offshore companies in the Virgin Islands. Thanks to this state of affairs, London strengthens its financial position, providing jobs within the country. In such conditions, would the UK be interested in cutting the rug out from under the tax havens within its sphere of influence? The answer is obvious.
Such a system did not arise in Great Britain yesterday; it developed historically, starting in the 17th century, when small islands in the Caribbean Sea became possessions of the British Crown. Residents then received significant tax discounts. Not much has changed since then. For example, it is quite possible to spend all your illegal wealth bypassing the London financial center; you just need to get to the island of Jersey, which is 45 kilometers from the French coast of the English Channel. And this is just one example of many.
Money is laundered in Germany as well, the authors note. “The number of suspicious cases in Germany has recently increased significantly: in 2014, 24 thousand such reports were transmitted to the International Organization of Financial Intelligence Units (FIU), while in 2003 there were four times less.” According to unofficial data, experts report, we can talk about 100 billion euros or more annually.
It is necessary to “create an effective supervisory authority that will monitor money laundering outside the financial sector,” said Sebastian Fiedler, deputy head of the Association of German Criminal Police Officers. But first of all, Germany needs to oblige wealthy investors to prove the legal origin of their funds - as is the case in other countries, such as Italy and the Netherlands.
They finally felt the need to fight money laundering in the United States. In accordance with the new decree of January 13 of this year, now, when purchasing real estate in Manhattan for more than three million dollars, you will have to indicate the source of income and your name. It turned out that the American Ministry of Finance is still afraid that transnational crime syndicates, together with corrupt authorities, will increasingly launder their black cash here.
Let us recall how, when studying the geography of the “sensational investigation”, it also became noticeable that the attention of “independent journalists” was attracted by almost all countries of the world, with the exception of the USA, Canada and Australia.
At the same time, it is these states that are included in the “Five Eyes”, which is why such selectivity in the speeches of financial whistleblowers is connected.
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Many people have been doing things they hate for decades, which they mastered at a vocational school or college. The reason is simple - they cannot find the time and money to study another profession.
It’s a rare adult who works full time and can afford to give up his family/hobbies and go to university/courses in the evenings for many months. And getting initial experience in a new specialty without leaving your old job (and source of income) is almost impossible.
But in 2016, changing your occupation has become much easier than 15-20 years ago. After all, there is the Internet and distance learning. You don’t have to waste time on the road, listen to lectures/ask questions to the teacher and submit your homework for checking right at home or in the office. For example, when mastering a new IT profession in GeekBrains courses.
How does online training work?
During the lesson, students can ask the teacher questions and chat with each other.
After the lesson, students submit their homework for checking and receive detailed comments in response. They also communicate with each other, share experiences and impressions.
After completing the course, students take tests that assess their level of knowledge and receive a certificate of completion of the courses (it can be printed from your personal account). For any questions that arise during the work, you can get help on the community forum.
How do you know if this training format is right for you?
Online courses cost money. And in order not to waste them, it would be good to try to study for a couple of weeks in a new format for you. This will help you understand if it is right for you and appreciate all the advantages of GeekBrains.
You can start with the FREE Programming Fundamentals course. Several lessons (with homework checking) will help you get used to the unusual form of education and understand which profession suits you best. Would you enjoy spending most of your workday writing code? Or does this activity not interest you at all and it’s better to go study to become a web designer or internet marketer?
Below is a list of the 7 most in-demand professions that can be learned through GeekBrains courses. People who have completed their studies can choose from thousands of available vacancies.
Web Developer
What it does: develops websites and web applications.
What you should know: html/css, JavaScript/PHP and frameworks for them, databases.
open vacancies on hh.ru.
The duration of training is 11 months.
Salary after internship > 100,000 rubles.
Mobile Application Developer
What it does: develops applications for Android and iOS.
What you should know: Java, Objective-C, Swift, databases.
open vacancies on hh.ru
The duration of training is 11 months.
Salary after internship > 114,000 rubles
Game developer
What it does: develops games.
What you should know: C#, Unity.
open vacancies on hh.ru.
Duration of training is 6 months.
Salary after internship > 102,000 rubles
Python programmer
What it does: develops applications (usually web applications) in Python.
What you should know: Python, databases, Django.
open vacancy on hh.ru.
Duration of training is 6 months.
Salary after internship > 105 thousand rubles
iOS programmer
What it does: develops applications for , .
What you should know: Objective-C, Swift, databases.
open vacancy on hh.ru.
Duration of training is 6 months.
Salary after internship > 126,000 rubles
Web designer
What it does: designs interfaces for websites and web applications.
What you should know: HTML/CSS, Photoshop, basic principles of web design.
open vacancy on hh.ru.
Duration of training is 5 months.
Salary after internship > 50 thousand rubles
Internet marketer
What it does: promotes projects on the Internet.
What you should know: basics of working with contextual advertising, SMM, email marketing, content marketing, web analytics.
open vacancies on hh.ru.
Duration of training is 9 months.
Salary after internship > 57,000 rubles.
In addition to the seven listed above, you can learn 11 more professions at GeekBrains. Perhaps you want to become an SMM manager or an SEO expert. If you have already finally decided on your life path, then you can simply improve your qualifications a little. For example, take a new course on ReactJS.
How to get experience?
Completion of each GeekBrains course is confirmed by a certificate. And this is not just a piece of paper, but a pass into the world of interesting internships that will help you gain experience - a decisive factor when hiring programmers.
School graduates have the opportunity to choose from a dozen IT companies. Among which Intel, GrantMarketing, PENTESTIT, Positive Technologies, HTC-OS, Wicron and others. At the same time, to complete an internship it is not necessary to live in the capital or other large city. You can not only study remotely, but also work.
Doubts away!
This is not the first time we have written about GeekBrains. Articles about courses receive a lot of comments. Let's list the popular objections and answer them.
The educational process has remained virtually unchanged since the 15th century, when the first printing press was invented. But now there is an opportunity to learn from teachers who are thousands of kilometers away. Together with the educational service, we tell you how to master the IT profession, get an internship and get a job. And all this without leaving home.
The material was written with the support of GeekBrains.
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Five years ago, online education was not considered a serious alternative to university education. Now even large companies are sending their employees to online classes. As, for example, Google does this, which recruited 80 thousand of its employees to take a Udacity course on HTML5.
Of course, online education has disadvantages. For example, students do not have sufficient motivation to learn, since there is no feedback from the teacher and there is practically no control. But in modern services these problems have been solved - in GeekBrains, for example, you can take courses in real time, as well as submit homework assignments, which will be checked by teachers, and the result of which will be discussed in detail in the next lesson.
In 2015, a third of students around the world completed their courses to the end, which is several percentage points more than last year. And every year the figure is only growing.
Now educational services can give students a full-fledged profession. Together with the educational platform GeekBrains, we have selected seven popular professions and told you how to get them without leaving home.
Web Developer
Average salary: 90 thousand rubles
Newspaper headline "Hike without leaving your home." This is an atypical case; I can’t decide whether to isolate the turnover or not. I couldn’t find any recommendations on this in the manuals. Please advise whether to install a ZPT. I would say that the phrase here serves as a definition (what kind of campaign?), and I would not put it. But doubt gnaws.
You are right: a comma is not required because the turn without leaving home is not used in a verbal sense.
| Question No. 292743 | ||
Is a comma needed before “without leaving home”? /a practical gift that you will use without leaving home/
Russian help desk response
No comma needed.
| Question No. 291328 | ||
Hello! I have two questions. There is a computer game, they released a movie based on it. And one game gadget “in the next release of the game it will look(,) like in a movie.” This means it will look the same as in the film. Is there a comma before "how"? And second. "Without leaving the Internet (,) we learn to cook." Same question about the comma. About “without leaving home” you wrote: “A comma is not required if the phrase “without leaving home” is used not in the verbal meaning, but in the meaning of the adverb “at home.” Here, in theory, you can replace “on the Web” Please answer, I'm really looking forward to it!!!
Russian help desk response
Right: look like in the movies; without leaving the Internet, we learn to cook.
Hello! Are commas necessary in the sentence: “How to get new knowledge without leaving your home and almost free of charge?”
Russian help desk response
No additional punctuation is needed.
| Question No. 289647 | ||
Please tell me whether a comma is needed in the sentence “Enroll in kindergarten (,) without leaving home”?
Russian help desk response
There is no comma.
| Question No. 288808 | ||
Pay off debts without leaving your home. With or without a comma? Thank you!
Russian help desk response
No comma needed.
| Question No. 288703 | ||
Tell me: “Return your taxes without leaving your home” - is a comma needed here?
Russian help desk response
Correctly without a comma.
| Question No. 288497 | ||
Hello. Tell me if there are commas in the phrase: “We solve all problems without leaving the house but through the portal.” Thanks a lot!
Russian help desk response
Correct punctuation: We solve all problems without leaving your home, through the portal.
| Question No. 280455 | ||
Hello. Please tell me if there is a comma or a dash in the sentence “When leaving the house, (-) don’t forget!” Thank you.
Russian help desk response
The participial phrase is separated by a comma. But the proposal is strange.
| Question No. 279640 | ||
Hello. Is there a need for a comma before the phrase “without leaving home” in the heading “shopping(,) without leaving home”. Thank you very much!
Russian help desk response
The specified comma is not required.
| Question No. 273051 | ||
Please tell me if a comma is needed in the sentence:
Every week you receive a free copy of the magazine(,) without leaving your home.
Russian help desk response
No comma needed. The participle has lost its verbal meaning.
| Question No. 269507 | ||
Good afternoon Please tell me whether a comma is needed in the sentence below after the phrase “in Internet banking”:" pay money transfers to your current account via Internet banking without leaving your home!
Russian help desk response
No comma required. note that internet banking written with a small letter.
| Question No. 264696 | ||
Hello! Is a comma necessary in the following sentence: You can find out () without leaving your home a.
Russian help desk response
No comma required.
| Question No. 243640 | ||
Hello! Please answer, is a comma necessary in the following sentence: “Network marketing (,) without leaving your home”?
Russian help desk response
No, no comma is needed. The participle has lost its verbal meaning.
Offers virtual tours to the best museums. Here are 10 of the most interesting ones.
One of the most famous and visited museums in the world. In it you can see not only works of our time, but also the originals of “Starry Night” by Vincent van Gogh and “Hope II” by Gustav Klimt. The virtual tour offers unusual exhibits of our time: original costumes, photographs, posters, sculptures and psychogeographic paintings by Mark Bradford.
The museum contains paintings from the 13th to the 20th centuries: “Madonna of the Rocks” by Leonardo da Vinci, “Venus and Mars” by Sandro Botticelli, “Allegory of Prudence” by Titian. These and other masterpieces are available in a virtual exhibition.
The German museum contains 19th-century paintings in the styles of classicism, romanticism, impressionism and early modernism. The paintings by Edouard Manet “At the Conservatory”, Gustave Courbet’s “The Wave” and Caspar David Friedrich’s “Monk by the Sea” deserve special attention. You can walk around the entire museum complex. True, some paintings remained without signatures.
With the help of the Art Project, you can not only look at famous paintings (“The Death of Marat” by Jacques Louis David, “The Meeting of Eleazar with Rebekah” by Paolo Veronese, “Hercules Supports Victory” by Jean Jouvenet), but also trace how one of the most luxurious palaces in history. The virtual tour also offers a walk through a realistic park.
Art lovers will not find a more complete collection of works by artists from Russia than in the Tretyakov Gallery. Here are “The Black Sea” by Ivan Aivazovsky, and “The Emerald Necklace” by Viktor Borisov-Musatov, and “The Lady in Blue” by Konstantin Somov, and “Girl with Peaches” by Valentin Serov.
The museum displays not only the works of Indian artists, but also paintings by Europeans that were created in India. It is worth paying attention to Amrita Sher-Gil, who is often compared to Frida Kahlo.
In the Uffizi you can see “The Birth of Venus” by Sandro Botticelli, “The Adoration of the Magi” and “The Annunciation” by Leonardo da Vinci, “Flora” by Titian, “The Musical Angel” by Rosso Fiorentino and other famous paintings.
The museum in Amsterdam will offer you to look not only at the paintings of Vincent Van Gogh (“Sunflowers”, “The Potato Eaters”, “Bedroom in Arles”), but also at the works of his contemporaries (for example, Pablo Picasso and Paul Gauguin).
Not only is there an incredible art museum, but there is also a large library. Here you can appreciate the works of avant-garde artist Juan Gris (“Bottle of Anise del Mono”, “Open Window”, “Violin and Guitar”). The main exhibit of the museum is considered to be “Guernica” by Pablo Picasso.
A museum that will tell you almost everything about British art. It contains works from 1500 to the present day. Here you can look at “Ophelia” by John Everett Millais, “Nocturne” by James Whistler and “The Blizzard” by William Turner.
