Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/855205
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News PAUL COCKS A contender for the Na- tionalist Party leadership has denounced what he claims are underhanded attacks coming out of party headquarters, over a picture of the PN's mem- bership list showing that he had not paid his party membership for the past two years. Speaking to MaltaTo- day, Adrian Delia said he was aware of the screen- shot from an Excel work- sheet showing the entry next to his name, with his membership status marked as 'eligible after 2017 and 2016 member- ship is paid'. All candidates for the PN leadership must have been a member for at least two years when they submitted their nomina- tions two weeks ago. The same goes for members who will vote for the party leader in the 16 Septem- ber election. Party sources claimed with MaltaToday that Delia had only settled his party dues a few days ago. But Delia insisted he had paid his membership in January as he has done every year to the local party representative in Siggiewi. "This representative passes on the money to HQ, but I don't know whether she does so im- mediately or if she waits for weeks or months to collect payment from a number of members be- fore passing them on. What I do know is that I pay my membership every January and did so again this year." Delia said the screen- shot of the alleged mem- bers' list was "a clear ex- ample of an underhanded attack against me, coming straight out of party head- quarters… "When I submitted my nomination for the lead- ership contest, Angelito Sciberras checked and confirmed there and then that I was indeed a fully paid-up party member before even accepting my nomination. Don't you think Sciberras would have noticed if my mem- bership for 2017 and 2016 were still awaiting pay- ment?" He said that apart from party officials, only two other persons working inside Angelito Sciber- ras's office could have had access to the list. "What- ever the case, whoever did this, was definitely wrong because he did not know how and when I paid my membership dues." Delia denies claims of late PN membership payment CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The scientists identified 24 sink OFCs, with Malta coming in at eighth place in terms of size, together with well-known tax havens such as Lux- embourg, Hong Kong, the British Vir- gin Islands, Bermuda, and the Cayman Islands, but also Taiwan, until now an unnoticed tax haven. By analysing the global network of money flowing from subsidiaries to shareholders, the scientists have come up with how much value sinks in the Maltese economy "as compared to what should sink in it based on the size of its economy." In the case of Malta, over 100 times too much value ends up in the island compared to the size of its economy. The top tax haven in the world, the British Virgin Islands, holds over 5,000 times the value of what its economy should hold. The scientists call this value "sink centrality" – a mathematical calcula- tion measuring the difference between investment coming in and flowing out, and then seeing how this tallies with Malta's GDP. "Our list of sink-OFCs is indeed as- sociated with territories with low or zero corporate taxes, where capital accumulates," the academics write in their report. "While Panama is well known as a tax haven, our approach does not identify it as a sink-OFC. Panama is mainly a tax haven for in- dividuals and with relatively high cor- porate taxes (25%) is less attractive for corporate groups. In the notorious Panama Papers the large majority of the involved shell companies were ac- tually domiciled in the British Virgin Islands." When seeing the list of the sink-OF- Cs, it is clear that these countries are small domestic economies with large values of foreign assets, which are at- tracted through low or zero corporate taxes. It is this disparity, between the local economy and external assets they are holding, that makes them "offshore fi- nancial centres". And before those profits come to Malta where they are ultimately taxed, multinationals are also channelling their cash through "conduit OFCs". This handful of big countries – the Netherlands, the UK, Switzerland, Singapore and Ireland – hold 47% of corporate offshore investment from tax havens. Conduit OFCs use their good reputations for enabling the qui- et transfer of capital without taxation. The study finds Malta tends to act as a sink-OFC for profits that mainly pass through the Netherlands and Luxem- bourg. Authors Javier Garcia-Bernardo, Ee- lke Heemskerk, Frank Takes and Jan Fichtner argue that these findings de- bunk the myth of tax shelters as exotic far-flung islands that are difficult, if not impossible, to regulate. "Many offshore financial centres are highly developed countries with strong regulatory environments. That means that targeting conduit OFCs rather than sinks could prove more effective in stemming tax avoidance. This realisation may help European Union and the OECD officials, who have increased pressure on cracking down on tax avoidance since the 2008- 2009 financial crisis, to modest effect, by helping regulators better tailor their policies." An analysis by MaltaToday had found that some €250 million was re- tained by the Maltese taxman in 2015, after rebates were paid to foreign com- panies who set up their 'tax residency' company in Malta. This could corre- spond to a total tax charge of over €1.7 billion, that was otherwise wiped out thanks to the six-sevenths rebate. mvella@mediatoday.com.mt Country Value Country Value Country Value British Virgin Islands 5235 Marshall Islands 100 Belize 38 Taiwan 2278 Malta 100 Gibraltar 34 Jersey 397 Mauritius 75 Anguilla 27 Bermuda 374 Luxembourg 71 Liberia 17 Cayman Islands 331 Nauru 67 St. Vincent & Grenadines 14 Lichtenstein 225 Seychelles 60 Hong Kong 14 Curaçao 115 Bahamas 40 Monaco 11 World's top 'sink' offshore finance centres The sink-OFC number (value) indicates roughly how much more value sinks in this country as compared to what should sink in it based on the size of its economy. For example, in the British Virgin Islands, over 5000 times too much value ends Malta is top 10 offshore finance centre, according to computational scientists