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Putin Offers 3-Month Offshore-Tax-Cheat 'Amnesty': "There Can Be No Untouchables"
"This is the nationalization of the elite," is how one ex-Kremlin-ite described Putin's new policy. "For [years], the elite saw Russia as a hunting ground - they would keep their money and live somewhere else," but no more, as the FT reports, Putin has moved to inject some moral fibre into the country’s top-level bureaucrats and state employees by giving them a three-month deadline to close their foreign bank accounts and divest themselves of offshore assets – or face the sack. "There is a sort of algorithm [in Russia] for civil servants. You stash a lot of money abroad, send your family to live there, and then when you retire, you join them. This new legislation will put a question mark next to the career plan of a generation of top-level people." Putin's new decree makes it clear, "There are no untouchables and there cannot be any."
Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, has moved to inject some moral fibre into the country’s top-level bureaucrats and state employees by giving them a three-month deadline to close their foreign bank accounts and divest themselves of offshore assets – or face the sack.
According to a new presidential decree, signed on Tuesday, thousands of Russian civil servants have until July 1 to file declarations of income and assets, which will be subject to stringent checks. No one would be above the law, said Sergei Ivanov, Mr Putin’s chief of staff, and anyone caught still in possession of the prohibited assets would be instantly dismissed.
“There are no untouchables and there cannot be any,” he said.
The decree is the president’s latest move to “de-offshore” Russia’s economy,
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“This is [the] nationalisation of the elite,” said Konstantin Kostin, the former Kremlin deputy head of domestic policy who now heads the Foundation for the Development of Civil Society, a Moscow think-tank.
“For a long time, many in the elite saw Russia as a hunting ground – they would keep their money and live somewhere else,” he added. “That problem cannot be addressed by one law, of course, but only by political willpower and the consolidation of society around the idea.”
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Mr Putin’s decree is apparently intended to stiffen political spines and spur the passage of a law rather than do away with the need for one, with conventional legislation seen as giving the anti-corruption drive a greater mandate.
“The [foreign assets] law will go through, but not in the expected timeframe,” said Mr Kabanov. “[The elite] needed a decree to demonstrate to them the president’s resolve, and to introduce the new reporting requirements in time for this year.”
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Ksenia Sorokina, editor of Moscow-based Snob magazine, said: “There is a sort of algorithm [in Russia] for civil servants. You stash a lot of money abroad, send your family to live there, and then when you retire, you join them. This new legislation will put a question mark next to the career plan of a generation of top-level people.”
However, the decree appeared to contain loopholes. For example, Yevgeny Shkolov, a senior official in the president’s administration, told the news agency Interfax that revenues of companies registered to family members of civil servants need not be declared.
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...no untouchables except for the oligarchy.
Sincerely,
Vladimir
Putin himself is rumored to be a billionaire. Wonder where all his money is hiding?
"or face the sack."
What, is Brian moonlighting for the ruskis now?
"No untouchables...."
Well, except for those banker/corporate/politicos who get advance notice. Like in Cyprus.
Like Shirley sang
"From Mister Goldfinger
Pretty girl, beware of his heart of gold
This heart is cold
He loves only gold
Only gold
He loves gold
He loves only gold
Only gold
He loves gold"
forget where putin's billions are hiding. more interesting question is how a kgb agent putin became a billionaire
I just hope our Boris Alotovkrap gets out in time. He seems like such a nice deranged fellow, fellow.
Natasha is ginormous resourceful. Has him disguised as moose..., or maybe squirrel.
Is more better we don't know. Is having bad year for thumb screwing.
Putin ir rumored to have his money in Germany, and to hold a german passport. This is what I heard from some sources here in Russia. I've been told that they do not make it official, but it's what it is.
Rasputin Putin. One Bad Ass diminutive commie. He kinda reminds me of Bloomberg but with nukes.
Vlad the Impaler...
Also known as Dracula.
I'm worried about the Ukranian hooker and Russian mail order bride industry going tits up. Imagine where all those horny can't get laid by any U.S. gal losers will turn to next.
They'll become TSA agents
Do you mean T&A agents?
Maybe Nork brides?
I hear they eat very little... always nice and trim...
I'm starting to think there might be a slight lack of liquidity out there. Maybe.
Interesting hit on Europe disguised as an anti-corruption measure. Maybe even a little payback for what the EU tried in Cyprus?
What happens to ALL the European banks if tens or hundreds of billions worth of Russian cash sitting in said banks suddenly gets pulled?
Maybe those with money were worried about the possibility of capital controls. Now they are compelled to withdrawl thier funds from the bancrupt western economy.
Wait till those funds leave the europe banks and stock markets. Hmmmmm
All this makes ya not wanna be long for this world. Especially if you don't have illicit billions to your name anymore.
Is this how a global bank run starts?
Shit. Next thing ya know he's gonna outlaw 20oz cups of vodka.
As usual, Bloomberg's still got him beat.
Long sub-$50K accounts.
Long AK-47 !
remember the investment firm that withdrwe about 900 million from cypres the week before the bailout.
i wonder if there is a connection.
Cool, they just made a feature film short about what the next FED chairman faces: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=fb0_1361457308
Ron Paul makes a little appearence at then end; you can hear him squeeking.
'Putin the screws' to the civil serfants...probably not going to hit too many fellow billionaires...
Putin the screws to the up-and-coming kleptocrats would a necessary prerequisite to Putin the screws to the oligarchs if he wanted to-- the mafia and money launderers, not so much, since the FSB can choke up on the leash whenever it needs to...
Bring back the gulags! It's been too long since the mighty USSR has flexed its socialist muscle.
Russian civil servants are people, too. (or, just a hint of capital controls)
Real Estate........miami, vegas, cleveland, bye bye buy.....!!!!!!
What happens in Cleveland, stays in Cleveland.
Either oligarchs have all gone crazy or they really believe this is gonna work out ok in the long run while the whole shithouse goes up in flames.
What happens in Cleveland, stays in Cleveland.
because its rusted in place and can't be moved
Putin wants the G with the Biggest SACK, and WHOSE THAT?!
Too bad Obummer doesn't have the sack to do the same thing (and also with respect to Federal employees who owe back taxes)...
sounds good
unless they're already above the law
.
If I was one of Putins cronies and had a s/l of money parked over seas, I would take an early retirement. Once he knows where your stash is it's only a matter of time before it's pillaged. Looks like Vlad is doing a little house cleaning(herd thinning) to me.
It was only a matter of time. Sooner or later every country will recognize the plunder being committed by the "globalists". Globalists can only succeed by having government employed cronies, who must hide their loot away from the eyes of the prying government. Take away that cog and the politicians have less reason to act against the citizens. The next era will be the era of re-nationalization in my opinion. The New World Order is failing.
Once the guvvies have been forced to bring home their own overseas wealth, one can bet that these people will be far more likely to enforce the same on the populace at large. Once all the wealth is forced back home, easy to close the borders on capital, so to speak. Economic chains.
I agree with you, I would retire immediately and leave, before capital controls turn into physical border controls. Just sayin'.
Chuck Schumer would be proud of this move... US wealth held overseas will likely be forced home, too, for the small folk. As the loophole in this law shows, the wealthy and connected will be as free as ever to roam.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8EiJHmHPVig
As Doctor Zhivago learned, your house and possessions can be taken at any time.
And all you guys about to talk about how your possessions were lost in a boating accident, the government wasn't born yesterday. You will not be allowed near that body of water and you will not be able to buy food and starve.
Why would I ever go near that body of water again?
Rule of law. Why it means something regarding property rights. Only question is: where does it exist in the world?
Try Singapore and Switzerland.
Putin is a crafty sSOB. He knows that Rusian banks are pretty well funded and that he has unlevered natural resources companies to back a storm.
It is time for him to play his card vs the soft bellied Eurocrats. Euro Banks are going down. US banks as well?
Here comes the storm bitchez !!
This is an excellent point I had not considered. Western European banks are shaky, and there is already depositor flight caused by Cyprus. Add in billions in off shore Russian withdrawals and Putin will definitely have the upper hand.
Shouldn't we really be calling it rational thought by clowns on acid.
Yes Comrade, bring back your billions so that Mother Russia can keep its eye on it for you...
putin is clever. this is akgb mindtrick for the west. he gets to stick it to western europe (drain some bank deposits) and consolidate more power at home by having the funds in mother russia, so those pesky oligarchs who decide to disagree cant just split to london or mexico city ( a la trotsky).
Sounds simply he laying the groundwork to draw back domestic capital initally into the BRIC trading and banking system they are setting up. Domestic capital pulled back in boosts the currency value and regional banking and trading clout. Also this installs a sense of trust that they are no nonsense and fair or equal or not there are real rules and real consequences that get enforced. That builds stability and trust and those 2 factors syphon more capital and labor from the World Bank and IMF backed monopoly that is slowly going tits up before our eyes. A changing of the guard is going on in front of our eyes. Question is how violent of extremes will the US go to keep the monopoly going. WWIII is the logical last grasp move. Exhaust all options before doing the sensible and responsible thing.
heyyyy good point!
long the rouble for three months...better than bitcoin!
do it in the forwards with western banks? not sure how creditworthy the russian banks are?
bitcoinov
Offshore money = out of reach by the govt. If the govt cannot reach your money they cannot steal it. This is just another method to "prepare" for the taking of peoples assets. Force them all home and into local banks so the looting is easy. I would not be surprised if the US does not follow in a few weeks with a similar edict.
I don't care if the rich keep their money offshore -AFTER they pay taxes on it -just like I do.
One step at a time.
Britain paid 400k to recently dismissed national and local civil servants to keep their mouth shut; don't embarass the failed Internationale, the Common Purpose, the AshkeNAZI, Khazars.
Putin is a patriot, a very able one, father of the FSB.
One careful step at a time means no step backwards. Free enterprise is good for most people, and good soldiers know this.
Monopoly served by bureaucrats only serves the bankrupt banks and their apparatchiks in bribed government.
Considering what just happened in Cyprus, this might be the offer Russian kleptocrats can't refuse.
(Kind of wish someone would force me to move my money to a country with a 10% debt-to GDP ratio)
Vlad? A hypocrite?! Noo...
http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2012/08/putins-perks
Though I think he still has quite a bit out of Russia.
What makes you think all of this is his? Does Obama own Air Force One, Camp David and everything else he uses? Don, t be follled by the Zio Media
I think that the governments of this world are slowly starting to wake up to the international cracks in the tax system that allows people to hide money, avoid taxes, fall prey to corruption and bribes and to ignore the interests of their nations.
On the other side of the coin, hungry governments can never be satisfied. The more they collect, the more they spend, the more they want and it never ends.
The only way the system will make it back to some form of equilibrium is some form of limit on the size of government as an acknowledgment that the bigger the government is, the sicker the market and the economy become over the longer run.
do economies return to more of an equilibrium when tax havens are shut down?
i personally think they would tend to do that, though i baulk at high corporate and personal income taxes
i think that if a democratic system cant make do with a 15% tax rate, its a failed democracy
There are peasants in tax prisons all over the world. Meanwhile, in the USA, where I am from, Former Senator John Kerry docked his yaught in a neighboring state to reduce the tax burden. This is a man worth billions, representing his home state, Massachusettes, who already enjoyed an effective 11% tax rate per 2004 filings. And he docked his yaught in Rhode Island.
To be san partisan, since there isn't any real distinction, During the 2012 US presidential campaign, Mitt Romney proclaimed
So if a billionaire senator can't slip his yaught in the state he represents, and a billionaire "capitolist" thinks somebody should pay 25%, but his "blind trust" determined he should only pay 14%. Then exactly where do nations get the money to pay these people after they get elected via democracy?
if this was obama going after overseas "dirty money" i am thinking it would be called leadership
guy has balls
do we still think the russians are the anti-christ and their legal system is manipulated by the state or have we "thawed out" enough from the cold war yet?
"Gouston, we rrave a problem"
http://en.ria.ru/business/20130403/180428301/Russias-Central-Bank-Alarme...
Secial line for oligarcs wishing to make withdrawls.
Checkmate - I so love the smell of toasted bankers.
No shit, no cheats? Shit!...
So if you turn yourself in as a tax cheat, will they make you head of the IRS? (Timmah geithner)
Or should you be a real man, keep your money off shore. rock that 14% effective tax rate and go for the presidency, with a 200 ship navy, where they name the new series of aircraft carriers after you while you are still alive? (Mitt Romney)
These are hard choices that our fine leaders must make. I do not envy them.
Putin's personal fortune ($40bn) is hidden in Zug, Switzerland.