Bradley Birkenfeld is the most significant financial whistleblower of all time, so you might think he’d be cheering on the disclosures in the new Panama Papers leaks. But today, Birkenfeld is raising questions about the source of the information that is shaking political regimes around the world.
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Rodrigo Rato, the former minister and IMF managing director who was briefly placed under arrest last Thursday, is reported to have amassed a personal fortune of at least €27 million (£19.5 million), including dozens of companies and a 44 per cent share of a luxury hotel in Berlin.
Mr Rato, who was economy minister in Spain’s Popular Party (PP) governments between 1996 and 2004 before a three-year stint as IMF chief, is being investigated on suspicion of concealing his wealth and tax evasion.
Read MoreProtesting Walmart’s tax privileges as it pays its workers notoriously low wages, the store’s employees and others have delivered a $7.8 billion “tax bill” to the Arizona home of the retail giant’s chairman, Rob Walton.
A report released this week showed Walmart is the beneficiary of $7.8 billion a year in tax breaks and subsidies from the US tax system. Employees of the retail giant and others used the opportunity to remind Walmart heir Walton how many of the company’s workers are forced to depend on social programs to get by, while Walmart reaps billions in profits.
Read MoreJail-house stripes look like last season’s trend as fashion designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana are set to be acquitted of tax fraud, after an Italian prosecutor declared them innocent. The world famous design duo were sentenced to one year and eight months in jail last year after being convicted of evading taxes on almost one billion euros.
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