Links Oct 1

Cayman Islands: Bank secrecy still rules as Grand Court quashes tax info request Financial Secrecy Media Monitor

Tax: friend or foe of development? The Guardian. Featuring TJN-Africa.

India freezes Nokia assets in tax dispute Financial Times (Paywall)

Colombia: Flight of funds to tax havens Dinero.com (In Spanish)

Google pays $55 million tax in Britain on 2012 sales of $5 billion Reuters

Cargill may have broken law over Colombia land buying: Oxfam Reuters
U.S. commodities trader bought a large area of farming land in Colombia many times bigger than the legal limit by setting up dozens of shell companies.

Tanzania has shown how civil society can contribute to economic justice The Guardian

Somali Militants Mixing Business and Terror The New York Times

Enhancing tax revenue may erode Africa’s attractiveness Business Day Live
Revolving doors: former chief director of legal tax design at the South Africa Treasury became a partner at Ernst & Young Africa, and adopts an unsurprising perspective.

Denmark: Value of off-shore companies reaches record The Copenhagen Post
Multinationals beach tax bills in Spanish shells Financial Times (Paywall)

UK trustees cannot afford to ignore US FATCA law Society of Trust and Estate Practitioners (STEP)

IRS U-turn allows disqualified US taxpayers back into offshore amnesty STEP

U.S., Panama in talks on tax evasion pact Reuters

Cook Islands on the Comeback Trail Lawfuel
A familiar theme?

Luxembourg: fund lobbying a mistake IFC Review

France opens corruption probe into uncle of Syria's Assad Reuters