Starting december tenth d. W. The Paradise Papers an astonishing view into a world in which prophet reigns king for an entire year an International Consortium of investigative journalists analyzed an enormous trove of leaked documents many of which come from appleby one of the largest and best known offshore Legal Service providers with. Its clients include politicians major corporations and celebrities. This time. The things the set the scene are mostly legal but the end result is the same people dont pay taxes the pair. Papers is a joint project comprising almost four hundred journalists some from the new york times. There are several from connected people who are in the in the files. That actually show a business relationship between senior members of the government often people who are in putins inner circle. Others may be the biggest thing ever and its. Never. That. We thought these was a leak of leaks act here we are i meet again. Its like a hydra you cut off one head and to grow back. Its a network of tax havens if we every other you lose this battle billion euros or tax evasion and avoidance. And. We have a highly economy where the most powerful and the richest people to fire society to their game. These leagues shows us that that time will stop secrets is over. Were at the German Finance Ministry to interview whats gong show shortly before he resigned as finance minister to take over as president of the blunder stock. Shortbread is a very busy man so three german news organizations are taking part in this interview. During his eight years as finance minister charbel often had to deal with criticism that the government had not done enough to combat tax avoidance and tax evasion. And in the city. But i did knew thered been a number of leaks in recent years the Panama Papers luxe leaks they revealed how people managed to reduce evade or avoid their tax payments exist why havent the e. U. Finance ministers with us their de facto leader managed to get the situation under control. We have for today weve made some progress but the truth of the matter is that were living in a globalized World International markets have become globalized and that includes the Financial Markets in particular. It every citizen every investor can now make Financial Transactions anywhere in the world and that has significantly increased the opportunity for them to find extremely favorable tax configuration structures fifi. But isnt that an admission that you failed and will never fully get this situation under control cleaning the bed is there now you mentioned people are far from perfect the concept of original sin dates back to biblical times and i think causing trouble ever since thats not a philosophical doctrine our capacity for creating new legislation has improved substantially youre always calling for tougher laws and more bureaucracy but weve also seen a substantial improvement in peoples ability to get around those laws so globalization presents both opportunities and challenges i just sold. And opportunities to break the law. You know review of the appleby documents we came across an Online Casino called stakes seven. Online gambling is technically illegal in germany but in reality anyone here can do it on their home computer appleby touts its involvement in the Online Gambling business you know lets see what comes up under gaming machine. Smack was even magazine because america was game over his and. He states of excess day it says here steak seven made in germany a specific reference to germany to. This Online Casino is based on the isle of man. You can log on quickly and easily and Start Playing poker roulette or slot machines is easy to make payments to through german banks. And unconditionally and ok lets try this. Kid these days and get a few there but not enough. As it starts with a small bag or you lose your whole stake. In school does good thing i didnt bet more is ive already lost ten euros. If that i thought id win something. He didnt say i want two year olds fifty. On lying gambling via a casino on the isle of man is illegal. But i dont expect the German Authorities to come knocking on my door anytime soon. Thats good for germanys best known gambling kingpin. Collar guy was a man is the inventor of the maricopa games. When it comes to protecting our customers we go beyond the legal requirements to feel if its a fight but because its nice and full coverage for his contributions to society and to german business paul gals a man has been awarded the federal cross of merit first class plaza even though the shaft of his become the mack or sun shines throughout the world of gaming and gambling although. This is the eiffel region in western germany. Here in the town of down there is an Addiction Treatment clinic. And you know more about his disconnected his tablet from the internet to protect himself he played medical games on steak seven now hes got to put his life back together. As it is online should be on the. Hearts. Admissions he wants engine and i used to spend at least seven to ten hours a day playing online games all most good internet casinos online you can play them any time being called into a shrine there id be on the train with a ninety minute trip in front of me and id get out my phone or tablet can i now have an online as you know song and id sign up with several casinos if you gave money its nobody there keeps an eye on how much youve spent initially hard in a natural gambling arcade thats not the case in national negating they make you take a break after an hour its also been and i know thats powers and im now out on martin how much did you lose during this time. If you look at why and enough to buy two homes at least five hundred thousand euros from the stagnant auction. At the Hamburg Regional Court we show judge john philip rock how a Gambling Company uses the isle of man to get around a german law. You know steak seven made in germany its all in german. Original makower games licensed in europe. But not in germany so this is a this is. So that i get the feeling that im going to win big time. Is this is what i think we can proceed from the assumption that the house always wins and beat the good in me thats the Business Model in. This is so how can this happen on the german weapon in. His mind i must say this is a clear violation of paragraph four subsection four of the state treaty on gambling which specifically forbids Online Gambling we can assume that this provider has not been issued the appropriate business license for germany and as such is in violation of german law how not bought from best. The appleby files help us make sense of stakes sevens rather convoluted business structure. At one time the site was registered to the gaza money company. Now the site is run by a third party. Top gaming europe limited. But guns on monday still makes money with illegal Online Gambling. Thats because macro games which operates take seven out of the isle of man collects licensing fees. This is done through an elaborate construction that was designed and implemented by apple be. Honest you wont find this construction in any trade register so we put together this diagram for you theres another layer up here and we found a Company Behind stakes seven something called sunny most. Of the movies theyve closed who put this complicated scheme together. Is an email that shows that one of gals womans attorneys contacted appleby yeah outlined quite clearly what they wanted applebee to do so that they could set up a structure. That. We wrote to guzzle months for him to request an interview. The company even has a senior manager whos in charge of the technically illegal Online Gambling operation. Agreed to talk to us here in berlin. But its clear his company has no intention of obeying german laws that forbid Online Gambling. This is an old allowed libya ends in weve seen documents that appear to indicate that in november twentieth eleven a senior gazal month employee contacted the appleby law firm. And asked for recommendations regarding Online Gambling that good stuff off with the soon afterwards take seven game holding was registered in the isle of man. Since september two thousand and twelve this company has been operating as top gaming europe ltd it runs the stake seven site that features macor games is all that correct as of yet we supply games to third party and like we do so either directly to license companies or to Third Party Distributors and providers or to socalled aggregator sites on the web. Sites. Theyve got to win in tennessee visit but you are aware that goes on one Company Games are made available in germany through stake seven feet not as busy as it was youll have to pass think seven about that since the stakes ive been following. These mass games which are registered in the isle of man guns are marketed aggressively and made available in germany. Where i line gambling is illegal. In the us on time just as a german regulatory system in the sector has been chaotic for the last decade particularly when it comes to Online Gambling and that includes both Online Sports betting and Online Casinos the law simply cannot be enforced as it stands now the boat is old least. It keeps some would argue whether the german gambling goal is valid under european lol but im not aware of any european culture and justice ruling that has specifically invalidated the german law on all mind gambling mind so say any violation of this germinal constitutes a criminal offense five hundred. Back to the isle of man. Were looking for the offices of top gaming europe the company that supplies stakes seven with america Online Casino games after our interview with do a crime on the gals among company informed us that the emails weve seen had nothing to do with steak seven and here on the isle of man we discover another very peculiar detail. I was talking i mean the you know dress is correct but there is no top Gaming Office here. So you also dont know stakes are top game in europe no but because its written here can i show you its written here. Its in its take seven. Thats the Online Gambling company and its run by the top limited and this is the ever second clause twenty host rick davis is the writer. Its strange that were not there on the nameplate. On the now so. You have never heard of this company. This can this is one way to get around a german ban on Online Gambling set up an offshore letterbox company. The islands minister for Economic Development has no problem with that at all its forbidden and. And you give the possibility to undermine the german law by what you offer from the isle of man well i cant speak for why the german the german general or is that way its important to recognize the global audiences rather than just one single jurisdiction as to whether they support or dont support this particular activity this is kelly eighty five thousand People Living on that island and have more than twenty seven thousand registered companies what is strange relation talks policy is open is transparent and its is might be regarded as being competitive in some peoples eyes but there are many other jurisdictions are also competitive i love men seems to be what luxembourg was few years ago. Well. Since their statements are for us we have to set an open and transparent but also a very simple taxation system that is very straightforward to understand and that is probably another reason. If a business. Anything to create a competitive advantage. Heres another example the netherlands has developed an aggressive tax dumping program. This is amsterdams financial district. These buildings are filled with the offices of businesses that actively implement europes most tax friendly policies that includes the use of countless offshore companies. At this address on the prince brown outline there are no less than three thousand seven hundred forty businesses registered. Looks like they dont want us filming air. Heres the most popular of the dutch based tax avoidance schemes the cuts the tax on a companys profits to almost nothing. Its called a c. V. B. V. This is how it works lets say an american multinational sets up two businesses in the netherlands one is a b. B. The other a c. V. The b. B. Is an operating company which generally runs the multinationals European Business most of the european profits flow tax free into the netherlands directly to the b. B. The c. V. Is the limited partnership which is responsible for licensing and marketing the companys products the b. V. Pays excessive license fees to the c. V. Sharply reducing its Tax Liability companies that earn less profit pay less tax. The key element in this scheme is that the c. V. Business pays no taxes at all according to dutch law taxes can only be levied against the companys owners. The company that owns the c. V. Is based overseas so dutch tax authorities basically ignore the seabees income. In recent years u. S. Companies of racked up an estimated five hundred billion dollars in profits in the netherlands and all of it tax free. Country magara news attack specialist with a nongovernmental organization. Theres a particular department in the ministry of Economic Affairs. Its called invest in the netherlands and its job is to attract foreign firms to set up their head offices here with their regional head offices this Department Paid the tax Advice Company to give tax advice to particular to at least eleven multinational corporations so they the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs pays professional advice to multinational corporations to reduce that tax bill its announced the c. B. View structure will come to an end in two thousand and twenty can one say that netherlands on a real good way of improvement no not at all not with the policies that are being proposed at the moment they are piecemeal they are very small they only tackle one avoidance structure. Were talking about billions so this emissions should be. Structural. The dutch government appears to have given its placing to corporate greed it operates as a tax haven to draw profits away from other e. U. Countries so much for european solidarity. You use. Legal systems but you abuse the new polls with the systems and thats not illegal so thats also why its difficult for for lawmakers to address this problem why do you think. Countries tolerate the death tax policy yeah i think because the opposition against this policy is not Strong Enough and also that other countries within europe are not critical enough of the netherlands but i think it is something a country should think about put more pressure on the netherlands to move more quickly in addressing these issues. You use is a trillion euros in tax revenue per year because of tax havens like the netherlands malta ireland switzerland and brought her. I love many tax models used by the netherlands the isle of man in luxembourg are sucking tax revenue out of the e. U. And youll end up destroying some countries do tax income from licensing payments at a lower rate. Weve created a system of tax regulations that will apply to all of europe including in the netherlands and it will take some time to implement but it will happen it must also be approved by the National Parliaments we are working constantly and aggressively to reduce the number of these loopholes in it its like dealing with a hydra you cut off its head and it grows to more. Journalists in the us been pouring over the Paradise Papers one of the more interesting leads that theyve been following involves alleged connections between u. S. Commerce secretary wilbur ross. And russian business executives. Could these leaks cause Serious Problems for some members of the trumpet ministration or perhaps even for the president himself. New york times reporter Mike Macintyre is on his way to the offices of the International Consortium of investigative journalists to prepare for an interview with ross. Came right out i dont see it we moved up three floors. To go the other way it was a move off what i know well were down literally but hopefully going off word thought in the moment is important when you know you know that you know whats the whats on the agenda here is that it was from the swedish yet. Swedish journalists have provided photographs that appear to support claims of contacts between eros and russian businessman. They show a tanker that belongs to a russian Petro Chemicals Company Called seabrook. The companys shareholders have close ties to the kremlin. On the stern theres another name. Navigator Navigator Holdings ltd shipping Company Owned in part by ross. There are four of these ships and over the past few years millions of dollars in charter fees have flowed from seaboard to the Parent Company Mike Mcintyre and Sasha Chavkin from the i. C. I. J a putting together a list of questions they want to know why ross didnt reveal the connection between navigator and seaborne. In hamburg were tracking a navigator tanker that sailing along the german baltic coast. Theres a second tanker the navigator libra docked at the port of new good near st petersburg. This port is said to be a key transfer point for russian gas and oil shipments. High nygaard today. But nary stress for ike. Well. Interesting yes while there are things to take care. Of. Disclosure story already thats always a risk what they choose to do with the information. Thats always a challenge with these things are. Going to find a way. Trebly for our trucks. In a written statement secretary ross admitted he has interests in the shipping company but he said seaboard is not subject to any u. S. Economic sanctions. Meanwhile on the isle of man chief minister Howard Quayle has called a press conference on short notice. Ive invited you here today to provide some background and context to a matter of Significant National importance. Now we have taken a preemptive action to demonstrates that the isle of man is a well regulated open and transparent member of the international community. A local journalist doesnt understand what all the fuss is about and on why why why would. He move. On this immediately there is something more i just dont get it weve got nothing to hide and i want to you know. Is a responsible station. This is the appleby law firms office on the isle of man we asked them some questions in writing a few weeks ago but they didnt provide the details we wanted so we decided to visit the office in person. The receptionist is obviously nervous she repeatedly tells us that theres no one here to talk to. On the same day some of our colleagues are at the appleby office in bermuda they have a few questions to ask. They figured a group effort might produce better results. But just like on the isle of man no Senior Company officials are available. So went out and personally known hes lucky right now thank you this is hard but i will do is help and we cant be you know someone who cant if you think youre looking here later appleby said the press was using material that had been acquired from the company illegally it was because it was an apple b. Would not comment on the allegations but insisted that there was no evidence of wrongdoing. Back to the memoir of german billionaire court angle on the businesses and wealthy individuals are easy prey for going to say sions that raise money. But theyre often aggressive and try to play on your emotions as they beg for donations whether its for people in need or some event on behalf of people whove been hit by a Natural Disaster is a fund that. We rarely take part in these Fundraising Efforts as a matter of principle say it sounds like and spin zone but. They have preferred to donate to specific Charity Projects it gets you dont have to do with you thats whats going to hit most in this part is really funny when theyve put up a bust of me at the door just museum in munich i know its good for my ego is there really a bust of in there that did say he thought it was the amount of boost in fundy and hes right in this and i did in disguise screwed the government out of millions or even billions and they put up a bust of him at the museum that make this i want to see stefan and often a monument to a man who avoided paying millions in taxes and made donations worth a fraction of that hes now celebrated as a generous benefactor a sad state of affairs. The fast pace of life in the digital no. Shift has the lowdown on the web showing new developments and providing useful information the wittiest finds and interviews with makers and users. Should next on d w. Shift living in the digital age coming up. Girl power in south africas i t s