The Nation Newspaper

Tag: Luxembourg

  • Looters stashing funds in Seychelles, South Africa, Niger, Ghana, says Magu

    The Acting Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) Ibrahim Magu on Friday said looters now stash illicit funds in African countries such as Ghana, Egypt, Cameroon, South Africa, Niger Republic, Morocco and others.

     He said the preferred destinations for looters have traditionally been the United Kingdom, United States, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Seychelles but they have started expanding down home to African countries.

    Magu made the disclosures at the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) and its Niger Republic counterpart, the High Authority Against Corruption and Relating Crimes (HALCIA) in Niamey.

    He said: “From available intelligence and our investigations, it has been revealed that looters from Nigeria now go to Ghana, Egypt, Cameroon, South Africa, Equatorial Guinea, Niger Republic, Morocco, Seychelles and so on, to stash their loots.

    “This has led to sharp increase in the number of Nigerians buying properties in African countries.

    “Nigerians “even go to the extent of changing their names and acquiring the destination countries’ international passports in collusion with corrupt public officers in their countries of residence in order to hide their identities and evade detection.”

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    He said: “the fight of the EFCC against looters’ safe havens is total.”

    The EFCC boss further disclosed his visit to Niger Republic was part of his continuing tour at mobilizing international efforts against looters’ safe havens.

    He added: “We have already visited Ghana and Cameroun, today we are in Niger Republic and we will continue to reach out to other preferred looters destinations in Africa and beyond.

    “Interestingly, the efforts of the Nigerian Government to trace, recover and return assets stolen from Nigeria coupled with our increased advocacy to discourage safe havens have begun to yield results.

    “It is my conviction that our collaborative efforts will go a long way in eliminating safe havens.

    “In fact, this is in tandem with renewed global commitment by countries to shut their doors to stolen funds.

    “I also want to call for conscious measures to sanitize and strengthen the legal framework so as to make it difficult for looters to transfer illicit funds to Niger Republic for investment or whatever purpose.”

    He called on the global community to urgently redouble its efforts towards strengthening the mechanisms for dismantling safe havens for proceeds of corruption.

    He also called on the international community to ensure the return of stolen funds and assets to their countries of origin.

    According to a statement by Acting Head of Media and Publicity of EFCC, Mr. Tony Orilade, the MoU will strengthen the collaborative efforts between the Nigerian front row anti-corruption agency and that of its Niger Republic counterpart.

    HALCIA, which is the agency in charge of the prevention and fight against corruption and related offences in Niger Republic was established by the country’s Law No 2016-44 of December 06, 2016.

    The signing of the document followed a two-day working visit to Niger Republic by the EFCC Acting Chairman, Ibrahim Magu.
  • EU agrees on new labour rules to prevent social dumping

    EU agrees on new labour rules to prevent social dumping

    EU countries have agreed on new rules to prevent the so-called social dumping and make employers pay foreign workers the same as locals, the European commissioner for employment said on Tuesday.

    “Equal pay for equal work at same place at heart of SocialEurope,’’ Marianne Thyssen, wrote on Twitter after the meeting of EU social affairs ministers in Luxembourg.

    The 1996 posted workers directive governs the employment of EU workers in other countries within the bloc and mandates certain standards, such as the payment of local minimum wages.

    Trade unions, however, complain that employers often use loopholes to abuse the rules.

    In France and other countries, the directive is perceived as having paved the way for employers to hire Eastern European workers on the cheap, known as “social dumping,” while driving down locals’ wages and social standards.

    French President Emmanuel Macron has been the most vocal critic of the regulations, and has been lobbying Central and Eastern European governments to reform the directive.

    According to figures from 2015, the legislation affects slightly over two million workers in the bloc: Poland, Germany and France were the main sending countries, while Germany, France and Belgium were the main receiving countries.

    The European Commission says foreign workers often receive only half what locals are paid.

    NAN

  • 50 Nigerians deported from European countries arrive Lagos

    Some 50 Nigerians were on Thursday deported from eight European countries for committing immigration-related offences.

    The Nigerians were deported from Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Luxembourg, Austria, Belgium, Spain and Hungary.

    Their deportation is coming barely 48 hours after another set of 40 Nigerians were deported by the Italian Government, for similar reasons.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the fresh batch of deportees arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMlA), Lagos at about 7.36 a.m.

    The deportees, comprising of 48 males and two females, were brought back in a chartered Privileged Time aircraft, with registration number EC-L20.

    DSP Joseph Alabi, spokesman of the Lagos Airport Police Command, confirmed the development to NAN.

    Alabi said: “this morning, we received 50 Nigerians who were brought back from Europe.

    “We had three males from Switzerland; from Germany, we had seven males; from Sweden, we had four males, from Luxembourg, we had six males; from Austria, we had 18, comprising of 17 males and one female.

    “From Belgium, we had only one female; from Spain, we had five males and finally from Hungary, we had six males, which makes it a total of 50,’’ he said.

    Alabi said all the deportees were alleged to have committed immigration-related offences in their host countries.

    Alabi said the deportees were received by officers of the Nigerian Immigration Service (NIS), the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) and the Police.

    Also on ground to receive them were officials the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria (FAAN) and the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency (NDLEA).

    NAN gathered that the deportees were profiled by immigration authorities and were allowed to depart to their various destinations.

     

  • Firms sign secret tax deals with Luxembourg

    More than 300 companies, including PepsiCo Inc (PEP.N), AIG Inc (AIG.N) and Deutsche Bank AG (DBKGn.DE), secured secret deals from Luxembourg to slash their tax bills, the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) reported, quoting leaked documents.

    The companies appear to have channeled hundreds of billions of dollars through Luxembourg and saved billions of dollars in taxes, the group of investigative journalists said, based on a review of nearly 28,000 pages of confidential documents.

    The leaked documents reviewed by ICIJ journalists include hundreds of private tax rulings – known as comfort letters – that Luxembourg provides to corporations seeking favorable tax treatment.

    Luxembourg officials denied any “sweetheart deals” in its tax system.

    “The Luxembourg system of taxation is competitive – there is nothing unfair or unethical about it,” ICIJ quoted Nicolas Mackel, chief executive of Luxembourg for Finance, as saying in an interview.

    Pepsi, AIG and Deutsche Bank were not immediately available for comment.

    EU state aid regulators are investigating Amazon’s (AMZN.O) tax deals with Luxembourg, saying the arrangements could have underestimated the U.S. online retailer’s profits and given it an unfair advantage, Reuters reported in October.