In the case of an Australian actor Paul Hogan, who had already been accused of defrauding the tax office by establishing loan scheme with an offshore company GB Film Finance registered in the British Virgin Islands, new allegations appeared against him and his advisers who “had the intention of breaching tax laws.” According to documents that were made public by the High Court, Hogan and his advisers concealed information from the tax office, failed to declare income and misled tax officials about his residence. The documents containing allegations and made by the Australian Crime Commission are to be used in a case against Hogan.
The documents include detailed tax advice from Ernst & Young on how the actor could minimize tax by moving tens of millions of dollars between companies and family trusts in US and Australia. The ACC alleges that Hogan’s advisers, on his behalf, “concealed relevant matters” from the Australian Tax Office, including the fact that Hogan was half-owner of the British Virgin Islands-registered offshore companies GB Film and Trelene Investments. According to the ACC, he failed to tell the taxman about a $US5 mln payment from Trelene; also, he avoided tax by failing to declare as income a $US4mln loan from GB Film. The ACC alleges that he even claimed a tax deduction on the US$910,000 in interest he paid the company.
The panel that was set up in March 2010 by Nigerian President to probe the most prospective purchasers of former Nigerian state telecommunications monopolist Nitel, has submitted its report on these two companies to the president and is waiting for further directions.
There were some doubts about the financial backers of a US$2.5 million preferred bid approved by the Bureau for Public Enterprises (BPE) – this was five times more than some industry analysts said it was worth. This bid was done by the New Generation consortium including China Unicom, China’s second-biggest carrier, Dubai company Minerva and local firm GiCell. Another company investigated was British Virgin Islands-registered consortium Omen International – a reserved bidder with a US$956 million offer.
In case the probe of the BVI and Chinese consortia would show the two bidders were unable to stump up the funds for their offer prices. BPE spokesman Chukwuma Nwoko said that there were issues arising from both of the bidders sharing the same technical partner.
According to some sources, there were two options in the panel’s report – the first that New Generation be allowed to pay a US$750 million deposit in the next 10 days, the second that negotiations should take place with the second and third reserve bidders (including the BVI company).
Flavio Briatore, an Italian businessman known as former Renault team principal, is under investigation, being alleged of tax evasion concerning a yacht “Force Blu” rented by him. The yacht is owned by the British Virgin Islands-registered company Autumn Sailing Ltd.; according to news reports, it is also under investigation.
According to Italian tax police, the investigation concerned the unpaid Value Added Tax (VAT) for the yacht and fuel, in the amount of US$6 million (4.8 million Euro). The allegations of businessman are based on the fact that, under Italian tax regulations, if a European Union citizen uses foreign-owned and foreign-flagged vessel in EU waters, he should pay VAT.