Now the horse meat scandal has a tax haven angle

This is most definitely a Friday afternoon story. It seems, according to The Guardian, that the owner of one of the companies at the centre of the horse meat scandal is hidden behind the veil of secrecy in the British Virgin Islands.

Draap Trading Ltd delivered meat to the French company Spanghero, which in turn supplied another French company, Comigel. The Findus lasagne products found in Britain containing horsemeat came from a Comigel factory in Luxembourg.

[…]

An investigation by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project revealed yesterday that that Draap Trading Ltd was registered in 2008 in Limassol, Cyprus. Its sole shareholder is Hermes Guardian Ltd, an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands. A Draap representative, Andreas Mercruri, refused to disclose the beneficial ownership of the company.

Speaking from Cyprus, he told OCCRP: “I’m sorry but with everything that is going on at the moment we are not able to comment on anything at this time.” Mercruri answered from the offices of Trident Trust , a Cyprus firm that provides company formation and incorporation services on the island. Trident Trust mentions on its website that beneficial ownership information of the companies it incorporates is not disclosed to any regulatory authority

3 comments

  2. Pingback: Du cheval, de la vache et du troc « Les racines du ciel

  3. Thanks Hearson

    I’ll contact a couple of journalist with this story.

    Yesterday, a collegue of mine in the ministry approached me as he is transferring to New York where he among other things is going to work on administrative tasks in the UN Tax Committee. He dont know anything yet about the topic so I gave him a brief intro on the battle between OECD and UN Tax Committee on standards for DTT, TIEA and TP-guidelines; source versus residence taxing rights. I told him that he should read your blog and consult you on questions on the more specific details on the decision and policy processes in the UN tax committee.

    So you can expect that I hook up the two of you on linkedIn next week.

    All the best and enjoy the weekend.

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