Sri Lanka hands over debt-laden port to Chinese owner

Yahoo – AFP, 9 December 2017

Sri Lanka hands over debt-laden port to Chinese owner

Colombo (AFP) - Sri Lanka Saturday handed over a deep-sea port to a Chinese firm, in a deal agreed to boost the cash-strapped island's finances that has raised concerns at home and abroad over Beijing's growing influence.

The $1.12 billion deal first announced in July lets a Chinese state company take over the southern port of Hambantota, which straddles the world's busiest east-west shipping route, on a 99-year lease.

"With the signing of the agreement today the Treasury has received $300 million," Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said at a ceremony in the capital to mark the handover.

"This is the beginning of our debt settlement," Wickremesinghe said.

The loss-making port will now be jointly managed by the state-owned Sri Lanka Port Authority and China Merchants Port Holdings.

Sri Lanka owes China $8 billion that former president Mahinda Rajapaksa's regime borrowed for its infrastructure development projects, including the port.

The deal has raised concerns at home and overseas, where countries such as India and the United States are known to be worried that China getting a foothold at the deep-sea port could give it a military naval advantage in the Indian Ocean.

On Friday Sri Lanka's parliament approved wide-ranging tax concessions for the port deal, including a tax holiday of up to 32 years for the Chinese firm, that opposition parties objected to.

"Please tell this House the details of very favourable tax concessions you gave China on the deal. What are you getting out of it?" Anura Dissanayake, an opposition law marker asked in parliament Saturday.

Sri Lanka has said it wants to reduce its high foreign debt with the proceeds of the Hambantota port deal, and is selling off some other enterprises to raise revenue.

India launches national tax amid business doubts

Yahoo – AFP, Megha BAHREE, July 1, 2017

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a special midnight session of parliament
to launch the new goods and services tax (GST) which he called "good and
simple" (AFP Photo/Karel Prinsloo)

India on Saturday launched its biggest ever fiscal reform with the government promising a stronger, less corrupt economy while businesses are nervous about the new tax.

The goods and services tax (GST) replaces more than a dozen levies imposed nationally and by the 29 states. It aims to transform the nation of 1.3 billion people and its $2 trillion economy into a single market.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a special midnight session of parliament to launch GST which he called "a good and simple tax."

"With GST, the dream of one India, great India, will come true," the prime minister said.

"GST is a simple, transparent system which prevents generation of black money and curbs corruption," said Modi who jolted the country last year by withdrawing more than 85 percent of India's bank notes from circulation in a clampdown on under-the-table dealings.

"The system gives opportunity to honesty and people who do honest business."

But the prime minister, who has put huge efforts into the economy as he targets re-election in 2019, acknowledged that it would have teething problems.

Jammu and Kashmir state has refused to sign onto the one tax regime. And GST has sparked protests by traders, while the main opposition Congress Party boycotted the launch ceremony.

Tax rules confound

Businesses are nervous about the imposition of GST, which sets out four different rates of between five and 28 per cent instead of the one originally envisioned.

The GST rule book runs to more than 200 pages and last-minute changes were still being made late Friday.

Textile traders and other sectors went on strike ahead of the launch and many businesses say they are unclear about what to charge.

The Bhartiya Udyog Vyapar Mandal, a national traders association that claims 60 million members, called a one-day strike Friday to protest the GST.

Many are worried because while returns have to be filed by computer, they do not have or do not understand computers.

"Since August last year we have put forward our demands on GST but the government has never responded," national secretary general Vijay Prakash Jain told AFP. "We told the government, either fix this, or we will strike."

Most economists agree the reform -- first proposed in 2006 -- is long overdue, but warn the initial shock to the economy is likely to drag, rather than stoke growth, as businesses adjust.

Credit Suisse managing director Neelkanth Mishra warned that "the next few months will be a period of uncertainty in which no company would want to invest, that slows down the investment cycle and acts as a drag on the economy."

Rating agency ICRA said that while GST would lead to an increase in compliance in some sectors, it would also reduce the competitiveness of the informal businesses who are expected to lose out to the formal and organised players.

"Although it is still far from perfect, we realise how much better it is than the myriad taxes we've been subjected to over the last several decades," said Pratik Jain, Partner and Leader Indirect Tax, PwC India.

"The old India was economically fragmented. The new India will create one tax, one market for one nation," Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said.

India pulls 500, 1,000 rupee notes to fight graft

Yahoo – AFP, Annie Banerji, November 8, 2016

An Indian resident holds 500 and 1000 rupee banknotes in New Delhi, on
November 8, 2016 (AFP Photo/Prakash Singh)

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ordered the withdrawal of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes from circulation on Tuesday in a shock announcement designed to tackle widespread corruption and tax evasion.

Modi said that while people could exchange their old notes for new bills at banks or post offices until the end of the year, or deposit them in their accounts, they would no longer be legal tender from midnight.

"To break the grip of corruption and black money, we have decided that the 500 and 1,000 rupee currency notes presently in use will no longer be legal tender from midnight that is 8 November, 2016," he said in a televised address to the nation.

"This means that these notes will not be acceptable for transaction from midnight onwards."

After a one-day shutdown of all banks and ATMs, new 500 and 2,000 rupee denomination notes would be issued from Thursday by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the country's central bank.

The 500 and 1,000 notes, which are worth around $7.50 and $15 respectively, are the largest bills in use in India which is still a massively cash intensive economy.

Since coming to power in 2014, Modi has pledged to crack down on so-called black money -- vast piles of wealth kept hidden from the tax authorities -- with a series of new measures, including 10-year jail terms for evaders.

The latest announcement comes a little over a month after the government raised nearly $10 billion through a tax amnesty for Indians to report undeclared income and assets.

Finance Secretary Shaktikant Das said the decision was "a very bold and powerful and a very decisive step to fight the menace of black money and the use of fake Indian currency notes".

Spy cameras

He warned those with hidden stashes of cash that banks would be extra vigilant with CCTV cameras to record identities and all banking transactions.

While the use of debit and credit cards has increased in the last decade in India, many small family-owned businesses insist on taking cash to evade tax or else ask for mark-ups to cushion the blow.

Most business leaders welcomed Tuesday's announcement although there were some concerns about the impact on small traders.

"It is perhaps the most significant move ever taken to curtail the parallel economy," said Chanda Kochchar, chief executive of ICICI Bank.

"This move will give a sharp boost to all formal channels of payment which in turn will help the formal economy to grow."

Some $439 billion left the country illicitly from 2003-2012, according to estimates from the Global Financial Integrity group in Washington.

Many of India's wealthiest citizens channel money to tax havens and convert it into jewellery and antiques to avoid tax.

Domestically, targets for investigation include temples and ashrams, where lavish donations can be a front for money laundering, and cricket betting. The property sector too is awash with black money.

Only 2.89 percent of Indians pay any income tax at all, India's previous finance minister told parliament in 2013.

The prime minister said that the move was also designed to counter Pakistan-based extremist groups who carry out attacks on India, saying "enemies from across the border" were financing their activities by mass producing counterfeit Indian notes.

Finance secretary Das said there had been a disproportionate rise in the number of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes in circulation in the last five years.

He revealed that the new 500 rupee note would bear the image of Delhi's iconic Red Fort while the new pink 2,000 rupee note would feature India's "Mangalyaan" Mars orbiter.

RBI chief Urjit Patel told reporters the central bank was ready to get the new notes into circulation swiftly.

"The RBI has been concerned with the growing menace of fake Indian currency notes which has been increasing in numbers," he added.

While the old bills will no longer be legal tender in shops, hospitals and transport operators will continue to accept them for the next 72 hours.

They would also be accepted at gas stations run by public sector oil companies, and at milk booths and crematoriums.

People queue outside a bank in Kolkata to deposit and exchange 500 and 1000

 currency notes after the government's shock decision to withdraw them from

circulation (AFP Photo/Dibyangshu Sarkar)

Related Articles:

India banks reopen to long queues after rupee withdrawal - New
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India Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Switzerland on trail of hidden funds

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is in Switzerland to discuss science, business and the moot question of funds alleged to be hidden in Swiss banks, away from Indian tax authorities. The Swiss deny the claim.

Deutsche Welle, 6 June 2016

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his whirlwind trip to Switzerland early on Monday by declaring his intentions to meet with prominent business leaders, and scientists at the CERN European research organization, which operates the largest particle physics laboratory in the world.

Modi also met Swiss President Johann Schneider-Ammann in Geneva (photo).

"In Geneva, I will meet prominent businesspersons. Our agenda will be to expand economic and investment ties. I will meet Indian scientists working at CERN. India takes pride in their contribution to exploring new frontiers of science in the service of humanity," he said.

Hidden assets

According to Indian news agency PTI, Modi was to press the issue of so-called "black money," or funds stashed by Indian nationals in Switzerland - either because the funds came from illicit profits or were being hidden from tax authorities.

Although some reports, including one from India's Central Bureau of Investigation, indicated $500 billion (440 million euros) was hidden in Swiss banks, authorities in the Alpine confederation have consistently denied this.

A closer engagement with the heart of Europe. President and PM lead delegation level talks #IndiaSwitzerland pic.twitter.com/vtvVWXbP8l

— Vikas Swarup (@MEAIndia) June 6, 2016

Nuclear Suppliers Group

Modi was also expected to ask for Switzerland's support for India's bid to join Nuclear Suppliers Group, a 48-member organization aimed at reducing the threat of nuclear war.

Indian membership has been backed the UK, the US and former French President Nicolas Sarkozy. However, some countries have voiced opposition to non-signatories of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) joining the group.

Modi has stopped in Switzerland as part of a five-nation tour which has included Afghanistan and Qatar so far.

He is set to leave Geneva for Washington later on Monday.

Singapore kicks out Swiss bank linked to Malaysia's 1MDB

Yahoo – AFP, Elizabeth Law, 24 May 2016

Singapore's central bank has ordered the closure of the local branch of Swiss bank 

BSI, which has been linked to a scandal at Malaysia's troubled state fund 1MDB

(AFP Photo/Manan Vatsyayana)

Singapore (AFP) - Singapore's central bank on Tuesday said it was kicking out Switzerland's BSI Bank, which has been linked to a global money-laundering scandal that has embroiled neighbouring Malaysia's Prime Minister Najib Razak.

In the toughest legal action so far in the crisis rocking Malaysian state fund 1MDB, Switzerland also disclosed it had launched criminal proceedings against the parent firm BSI SA for "deficiencies" in its internal organisation.

“BSI Bank is the worst case of control lapses and gross misconduct that we have seen in the Singapore financial sector," Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), said in a statement.

MAS said it had asked state prosecutors to investigate six senior executives of BSI Bank for possible criminal offences and fined it Sg$ 13.3 million ($9.6 million) for 41 breaches of Singapore's laws against money laundering.

Among those facing investigation is former chief executive Hans Peter Brunner.

Two Singaporean executives of the bank are already facing criminal proceedings in the city-state, which is Southeast Asia's financial hub and hosts more than 200 banks.

BSI has been operating as a merchant bank in Singapore since November 2005, offering private banking services to wealthy individuals.

The last time Singapore stripped a merchant bank of its status was in 1984, when the local branch of Jardine Fleming was shut down for "serious lapses" in its advisory work.

Najib, who founded 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) in 2009, has battled allegations that billions were looted from the investment vehicle in a vast campaign of fraud and embezzlement stretching from the Middle East to the Caymans.

Swiss bank BSI has been linked to a global money-laundering scandal at 

Malaysia's state fund 1MDB (AFP Photo/Roslan Rahman)

Denials

The fund, which ran up more than $11 billion in debt in a series of much-questioned investments, has steadfastly denied money was stolen or that it was in financial trouble.

Najib also faced questions after the Wall Street Journal revealed $681 million in transfers to his personal bank accounts.

But since the scandal erupted last year, Najib has weathered the allegations by curbing scrutiny by authorities, purging officials demanding accountability, and stifling media reporting.

He insists the $681 million was a gift from the Saudi royal family, most of which he returned. A Saudi official in April said that was true, but only after weeks of silence that cast doubt on the claim.

In a series of more recent reports, however, the newspaper said Malaysian investigation documents indicated more than $1 billion in 1MDB-linked money had been funnelled to Najib.

Najib and 1MDB vehemently deny that claim.

Najib has faced calls to resign but has tightened his grip on the ruling party and thwarted domestic investigations. His position is not seen as under imminent threat.

Singapore's MAS said it was "working closely" with the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), which has already approved the sale of the BSI parent firm to another Swiss-based bank, EFG International.

The Office of the Attorney General of Switzerland said Tuesday that it had opened criminal proceedings against BSI SA "based on information revealed by the criminal proceedings in the 1MDB case".

In Singapore, former BSI Bank relationship manager Yak Yew Chee is undergoing a criminal investigation for his dealings with a unit of 1MDB. His bank deposits have been frozen.

Separately, former BSI Bank wealth planner Yeo Jiawei, also a Singaporean, faces seven charges including forgery, money laundering, cheating and perverting the course of justice. He is in police custody and scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.

Malaysian PM Najib Razak has been under fire over allegations that billions of dollars

 were stolen from a state firm he founded, and his own admitted acceptance of a

murky $681 million overseas "donation" (AFP Photo/Mohd Rasfan)

Related Articles:

Malaysia cross-party alliance demands removal of PM

US subpoenas Goldman Sachs in 1MDB scandal investigation – report - New

United States Seeks to Recover More Than $1 Billion Obtained from Corruption Involving Malaysian Sovereign Wealth Fund - New

Switzerland opens criminal probe into Malaysian state fund

Swiss prosecutor asks Malaysia to help investigate 1MDB fund irregularities

Malaysia clears PM in scandal, says Saudis provided 'donation'

Panama Papers showed vulnerability of whole system: Panama president

Yahoo – AFP, May 3, 2016

Panama's President Juan Carlos Varela delivers keynote address at a luncheon
during the Washington Conference on the Americas at the State Department on
May 3, 2016 in Washington, DC (AFP Photo/Mandel Ngan)

Washington (AFP) - The scandal triggered by the Panama Papers leak of information on how and where the world's wealthy stash funds to avoid detection or taxes underscored many countries' vulnerabilities, President Juan Carlos Varela said Tuesday.

Speaking at the State Department in Washington, the Panamanian president said the documents "reveal a worldwide problem, that involves many countries with legal and financial institutions" vulnerable to actions "that are not in the public interest."

Mossack Fonseca's founder lawyer Ramon

 Fonseca is a friend of Panama's President 

Juan Carlos Varela (shown here) and, until 

March, served as a senior advisor in his 

cabinet (AFP Photo/Rodrigo Arangua)

To that end, countries need to improve transparency and information sharing, Varela argued.

"We urge the international community to maintain a respectful dialogue through diplomatic channels," he added.

Panama and the United States last week signed an agreement on sharing of back account information in a step Panama's finance minister hailed as proof of his country's cooperation in fighting tax evasion.

The bilateral agreement comes weeks after the Panama Papers, a series of reports around the world revealing how one Panamanian law firm set up offshore entities to help the world's wealthy stash their assets.

Following the revelations, Panama has come under intense international pressure to open its financial sector to greater transparency or risk being put back on a global "tax haven" blacklist.

While the government has long said it is committed to that goal and has made some reforms in that direction, it has so far not signed up to an international standard on automatic sharing of tax information set by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development.

Panama's President Juan Carlos Varela, left, sits with Singapore's President 

Tony Tan, right, for a meeting at the Istana or presidential palace on Friday, 

April 22, 2016, in Singapore. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E)

Related Article:

Switzerland, Singapore join clampdown on bank secrecy (Update)

Matthew message (Channelled by Suzanne Ward, March 20, 2016)

Matthew Ward - April 20, 2016

Matthew Ward

With loving greetings from all souls at this station, this is Matthew. We begin by addressing the issue that most of your expressed concerns pertain to, global reset. What is its purpose, who is behind it, and how will it affect your bank accounts and investments? While we have not used the more recently-coined term, “global reset,” several years ago we started talking about what it is—the changeover from your current monetary system, which has no foundation whatsoever, to a system based on precious metals. The transition process will be handled as smoothly as possible to minimize disruption in financial services and anyone whose money has been honestly earned and invested need have no concerns.

Whoever sets the rules for the world’s banking and lending institutions and interest rates controls the economy. After individuals in Bavaria who felt superior to the masses designated themselves “the Illuminati” and subsequently expanded their influence in all directions, that secret society has applied their rules worldwide. They did so with ease, as long before they came on the scene, the stage had been set by a few rich and powerful families whose greed, ingenuity and ruthlessness gave them economic control.

Global reset is a significant step toward ending that centuries-long control. Although the term is not used, its purpose—to stabilize the global economy by putting all currencies on the gold standard—is one of several provisions in NESARA, the acronym for National Economic Security and Reformation Act that was written by some of Earth’s Golden Age master planners in collaboration with evolved residents of Earth. Even today relatively few people are aware of this United States legislation signed by President Bill Clinton in 2000 because those who knew about it were bound by a “gag order” that he and other Illuminati members of the government imposed.

After the Act became publicized to some extent via dissemination of information transmitted by off-planet sources to their receivers, the government set up a disinformation Web site—National Economic Stabilization [later changed to Security] and Recovery Act—and incorrect information about NESARA was circulated to mislead people who had heard about it. Never has it been an investment program, nor does it include the delivery of “prosperity packages,” depositing millions of dollars in bank accounts or cancelling legitimate debts.

The authentic NESARA was to be announced worldwide and go into effect September 12, 2001. To prevent that world-changing event, President George W. Bush and his Illuminati colleagues ordered the infamous betrayal of their country commonly known as “9/11.” That also let them move forward on their pre-planned invasion of Iraq under the “war on terror” banner.

It would be natural to wonder why a program that has monumental global ramifications began with legislation in the United States. First, NESARA’s provisions had to be framed within your laws; otherwise, it would be a matter of souls from other civilizations imposing their ideas upon the people of Earth, and universal laws prohibit that kind of interference even when it is in the people’s best interests.

Second, it was imperative that the profound changes the Act contains be implemented first in the United States because it was the most Illuminati-ridden and the most powerful nation in your world. Although the latter status now shares the spotlight, that government’s actions still heavily influence what happens in many other countries. And it was necessary to act on NESARA’s provision that changes the United States’ corporate status that had been surreptitiously set up by the Illuminati to a republic, as was intended by the colonists who waged the war for independence.

The Act’s primary economic thrust is something that could not be spelled out in any legislation: legally obtaining the vast wealth that has been illegally and immorally amassed by the Illuminati and using those funds to eliminate impoverishment, which, by and large, is of their creating. Let us cite an example that you may remember from previous messages. The hurricane that devastated Haiti was caused by the Illuminati’s weather control technology; after the storm subsided, former US presidents Bush and Clinton went there to divert into their own pockets the monies donated for aid and reconstruction. As for the people of Haiti, these six years later they still are living in unsanitary, substandard conditions just as before the hurricane hit, and many residences are makeshift hovels amidst the rubble of destroyed communities.

The unconscionable disparity between the haves and the have-nots in your world caused an imbalance in Earth’s energy field that must be remedied, and other NESARA provisions also are designed to do that. They cancel debts incurred through IMF loans; end usurious interest rates; topple the privately-owned Federal Reserve System, whose tentacles span the globe, and its collection agency, the IRS; and end the currency trading that has enabled the Illuminati to reap fortunes, and that is where global reset fits in.

Recently a reader wrote: “I remember last year, or the year before...he [Matthew] said we wouldn’t get the global money exchange till 2017.” That is a considerable misinterpretation of what we said:

That said, we happily tell you that the decade of delay in your society’s advancement will end in your year 2017, a most propitious timeframe indeed with a celestial window similar to the one during the December 2012 solstice that eased Earth into fourth density. [September 23, 2014]

After that message went out, numerous readers had questions about that statement, and we want to mention one: Do you mean that no important developments can happen until the end of 2017? Dear brothers and sisters, important developments have been happening ever since Earth embarked on her ascension course 80-some years ago! However, it is likely that the first development to be unmistakably obvious to your whole world will be global reset. This complex process requires the cooperation of a large number of national leaders, and, with ever-rising vibrations, their agreement to proceed could come this year. If not that soon, please don’t be disappointed—an honest, secure foundation for your global economy is on the near horizon.

The “Panama papers” will lead to another significant economic reform. The international law firm whose records were hacked and released to the media always has acted within the laws that regulate the establishing of shell companies; firms in the United States and other countries that also set up these kinds of companies for their clients are regulated as well. After providing this service, the firms no longer are involved. While it has long been known that many wealthy individuals are using shell companies to hide their money and avoid paying taxes on it, there was no evidence to prove their criminal activity. The Panamanian firm’s files with names of their clients’ companies gave a starting point for the ongoing investigation into the maze of illegal steps taken by the owners to cover their tracks, discoveries that will result in striking down the laws that permit the formation of “shells.”

“This year I've been receiving a lot of messages from different people about the tithe. I would like to know what Matthew has to say about it.” Giving 10% of one’s income to the church was a Vatican edict that enabled popes and others high in the church hierarchy to live in opulence and parish priests to live comfortably while poverty was the lot of many in the Catholic congregation. Other religions adopted the tithe to build grand churches to “praise God.” Church is nota building, it is each individual’s personal relationship with God; sharing from the heart is godliness, the tithe was devised by man with greed as its taproot. When the peoples realize that Christianity was organized by the heads of church and state to control the masses and enrich themselves and other religions also were corrupted by the infiltration of dark minds, all dogmas will fall by the wayside and the pureness of spirituality will endure.

“I just heard about this movement for a new world government. Matthew assured us this would neverhappen!!!!” In many messages we have assured you that the Illuminati never will attain their goal of world domination. Without knowing what this reader heard, all we can say to all of you is, please do not associate a centralized governing body with One World Government or New World Order, two designations for the Illuminati’s global domination plan that includes eliminating most of the population—the “useless eaters,” as attributed to Henry Kissinger. We reassure you, that plan is doomed because their global network came apart at the seams and the fragments are unraveling.

Freedom burns in the heart of humankind, yet rarely have Earth’s peoples lived freely. For long ages strongmen increased their landholdings and power by brutal conquest—troops were forced into battle; untold numbers were killed, captured, or sold into slavery; and all except the privileged few lived at bare subsistence level. After governing systems were labeled, the Illuminati made a mockery of democracy by putting ones within their ranks as candidates; rigging elections; and bribing, blackmailing, threatening or assassinating members of governments. They declared what country must be fought to keep us safe from that kind of government or that ideology, and they started civil and international wars.

Like their forbearers, they thrived on war. By producing and selling weapons, ammunitions and other war machinery to both sides, they profited handsomely. By setting new national borders or simply taking over a country and subjugating its populace, they kept expanding their empire. By infiltrating governments, military forces, intelligence agencies, judicial and economic systems, religions, education, media, commerce, multinational corporations, the medical field, film industry and entertainment venues, eventually they controlled everything that impacts life in your world. By relentlessly creating fear, grief, unjustness and poverty, conditions that produce the energy that fuels them, they have kept your world in their clutches.

That long sad chapter of your history is nearing its end. It is Gaia’s desire that all peoples of Earth live freely, peaceably, cooperatively across boundaries, across seas, and all share equally in the planet’s natural abundance. In keeping with her desire, the best aspects of your governing philosophies and visionary ideas will be blended into a global system led by individuals with moral and spiritual integrity and whose wise leadership will maintain peace and prosperity. Beloved family, the world you are helping to create in linear time and exists in the continuum—Earth’s Golden Age abloom in all its glory—is grandly flourishing within that benevolent governance.

“If Light on the planet actually is continually intensifying, why is there still so much random violence? Why aren’t peace talks successful in ending wars? It is lamentably so that progress in those respects is moving slowly. By and large, this is due to individuals’ resistance to change what they are accustomed to—a belief, policy, tradition, procedure, habit or anything else that is familiar. Let us give an example that you may not have considered as a deterrent to raising the consciousness level and spiritual awareness of your society.

Some candidates running for office in the United States are pledging adherence to the Constitution, a document compiled when owning slaves was white people’s right and only men were considered capable of voting intelligently. Well before the Bill of Rights granted citizenship to former slaves and permitted women to cast ballots, there was A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. The second amendment, written about 225 years ago, provided for the young country’s readiness in case the British tried to regain control and arms were muskets. Yet many citizens cite this amendment as their right to have weapons designed for today’s battlefields, and some believe they will need to use those weapons when “… they’re going to declare martial law so they can take our guns away.” Energy generated by those thoughts and feelings not only adds momentum to the proliferation of weapons, it is manifesting a standoff because it’s conflicting with energy directed toward ending violence and achieving a world at peace.

By no means is that the only resistance factor, but its deterrence to an awakened society needs to be recognized. What is greatly heartening is, as vibratory levels keep rising, increasingly people will become enlightened and eagerly welcome progressive changes.

“Would you please be so kind as to ask Matthew about the flat earth and the firmament as mentioned in the ancient scriptures and also, in the bible.” We say that individuals who long ago recorded their celestial observations did so without the knowledge that a solar system with one flat planet amidst the spheres defies universal laws of physics. The belief that Earth is flat gives no credence to your scientific knowledge, and it is the same with the belief that a few thousand years ago God created Earth in six days.

We also have been asked about the “New Earth,” described as a pristine planet where light beings will be transported while the dark ones stay on the “first” Earth to continue battling and devastating the environment. Eons ago in linear time the soul Gaia chose to incarnate as a planet, which somewhere along the line came to be called Earth, and she has no intention of abandoning her body or occupying two. Your technology, which has been suppressed and misused by the Illuminati, and the advanced technology that your universal family will bring when they can safely join you, will restore Earth to her original Eden self. It is her destiny to once again be a healthy, beauteous, peaceful homeland for all of her residents.

Lighted beings throughout this universe honor your steadfast service that is bringing ever nearer that wondrous era, and we are with you in loving spirit all along your journey.

LOVE and PEACE

Suzanne Ward

Website: The Matthew Books

Email: suzy@matthewbooks.com

Related Articles:

Top European countries call to end secrecy of shell companies

President Obama Just Took a Major Step in Response to the Panama Papers

Why few Americans appear in the Panama Papers

Yahoo –AFP, Jeremy Tordjman, April 8, 2016

Issues of the German daily "Sueddeutsche Zeitung" featuring the "Panama Papers"
 with illustrations by German artist Peter M Hoffmann depicting heads of state
(AFP Photo/Christof Stache)

Washington (AFP) - From Russia to China, and Britain to Iceland, the revelations of the "Panama Papers" have tarnished officials and the wealthy over the implication that they hide riches offshore.

But one group is not there: prominent Americans. US tycoons and politicians are notably absent in the leaked files of the Panama law offices of Mossack Fonseca, which created thousands of shell companies worldwide to hide the identities of their ultimate owners, some of whom may have been evading taxes.

There is Hollywood mogul David Geffen, the Asylum Records and Dreamworks SKG co-founder. But there are no Americans comparable to Iceland's prime minister, or henchmen of the Russian president -- all in the Panama records -- at least in what has been disclosed so far.

"There are a lot of Americans, but they are more like private citizens," said Marina Walker Guevara, deputy director of the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists which coordinated the investigation and release of the Panama Papers.

However, that hardly means Americans have fully embraced financial transparency, she told AFP.

"It doesn't show that the US is outside of the offshore system; the US is actually a big player."

The Tax Justice Network's Financial Secrecy Index (AFP Photo/Alain

Bommenel, Jean Michel Cornu)

Other options

One possible reason for their small presence in the Panama documents is that US citizens hoping to hide funds and activities offshore were not drawn to Spanish-speaking Panama as a haven, when there are options like the British Virgin islands and the Cayman Islands.

"Americans have so many tax havens to choose from," said Nicholas Shaxson, author of "Treasure Islands: Tax Havens and the Men who Stole the World," a 2011 book on secretive centers for hiding money.

Indeed, Americans do not have to go abroad to hide funds and activities behind anonymous corporations: they can create them at home.

States like Delaware and Wyoming allow the creation of such companies, for just a few hundred dollars, that conceal their ultimate financial beneficiary.

And while US banks are normally required to "know their customers," they can bypass that rule and open accounts for shell companies, ensuring total discretion for someone who wants to move money around quietly.

The US Treasury is moving to stop the practice, which can be used by arms and drug traffickers to launder funds and lands the United States in third in the Tax Justice Network's ranking of the world's least transparent countries, well above Panama.

"We're in the last stages of drafting the final rule," a Treasury official told AFP.

The most popular tax havens (AFP Photo/Laurence Saubadu, Jonathan Jacobsen)

'Very frightened'

But there is another possible reason that Americans are not so visible in the Panama Papers.

Spurred by the need to halt huge, blatant tax evasion by Americans using foreign banks, Washington in recent years has cracked down with lawsuits, arrests and tighter laws that have targeted both the banks offering safe haven and those hiding money in them.

Swiss banks were hit in particular. UBS and Credit Suisse, respectively, had to pay fines of $780 million and $2.6 billion for having helped US citizens hide money.

The result, Shaxson said, is that now "there are a few tax havens around the world that are very frightened of American clients, because they know that the US can hit them."

Nevertheless, the seeming absence of Americans from the Panama Papers has fed conspiracy theories, such as claims the leak of the files was orchestrated by the CIA to destabilize Russia and other countries.

But Walker Guevara said there is still a lot to be examined in the trove of 11.5 million documents that make up the Panama Papers, and there could be more about Americans in there.

"It's a huge trove of documents and maybe there's something hiding there that we haven't found yet. It's a work in progress."

"@USTreasury has taken new action to prevent more corporations from taking advantage of one of the most insidious tax loopholes" —@POTUS

— The White House (@WhiteHouse) April 5, 2016

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Pakistan PM's family hit back after Panama Papers leak

Yahoo - AFP, April 4, 2016

Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has been in power since 2013 (AFP Photo)

The family of Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif Monday defended their ownership of offshore companies after they were named in the Panama Papers, one of the biggest media leaks in history.

Revenue generation is particularly sensitive for Pakistan's government, which is receiving a $6.6 billion bailout package from the IMF and has a tax-to-GDP ratio of 11 percent, among the lowest in the world.

The daughter of Pakistan's Prime 

Minister Nawaz Sharif, Maryam Nawaz (R), 

pictured with her mother Kulsoom Nawaz 

in 2013, is reported to own London real 

estate through offshore companies

 (AFP Photo/Arif Ali)

The leak, comprising 11.5 million documents from Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca, shows how some of the world's most powerful people have secreted their money offshore.

Among those named are three of Sharif's four children -- daughter Maryam, who has been tipped to be his political successor, and sons Hasan and Hussain -- with the records showing they owned London real estate through offshore companies administered by the firm.

"Nawaz Sharif does not own any company but having companies in the name of his children also raises questions," Umar Cheema of the Center for Investigative Reporting in Pakistan, told AFP.

The centre is partnered with the Investigative Consortium of Independent Journalists, which spent months poring over the documents before Sunday's online release.

"There are more than 200 Pakistanis which our report has identified, and they include lawyers, lawmakers and some people from the judiciary," Cheema said.

Opposition leader Imran Khan called for action against Sharif.

"Our stance vindicated again as Sharif's wealth stashed abroad exposed," he tweeted, adding the country's accountability watchdog, tax authorities and election commission must take action.

But Sharif's son Hussain told the country's largest private broadcaster Geo his family had done "nothing wrong".

"Those apartments are ours and those offshore companies are also ours," he said.

"There is nothing wrong with it and I have never concealed them, nor do I need to do that.

"It is according to British law and laws of other countries that it is a legal way to avoid unnecessary tax via offshore companies."

Hussain said he left Pakistan in 1992 and therefore is not resident, adding Pakistani tax law "says that if you are not staying in Pakistan for more than 138 days, then you are not required to declare your assets".

"We voluntarily present ourselves before it or any other judicial and investigative institution in Pakistan," he said in response to Khan's call for the National Accountability Bureau to investigate.

Several world leaders, including Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz, the prime 

minister of Pakistan and the children of the president of Azerbaijan, also control

 offshore companies (AFP Photo)

Low tax collection

A spokesman for Sharif family late Monday responded to the media reports, saying "Panama leaks and ICIJ have made no allegations of wrongdoing against Sharif family,".

"None of the corporations mentioned are owned or run by Mr Nawaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan," the spokesman said in a statement, which was shared by Maryam on her Twitter account.

The statement said Maryam Nawaz "is merely a trustee of one of the corporations owned by Mr Hussain Nawaz, which would only entitle her to distribute the assets to Mr Hussain Nawaz's family if required".

As prime minister, Sharif has invited investment in Pakistan. But the latest revelations could raise uncomfortable questions about why his family has kept their wealth abroad.

A report commissioned by Britain's Department for International Development last year said Pakistan's economy was facing an "existential crisis" stemming from its woeful tax collection rates and inability to finance itself.

Ali Nadir, a financial analyst, said the use of offshore companies was in some cases legitimate.

But he added: "I believe political and business leaders will be hard-pressed to take the privacy defence given the worldwide move towards a better track of money, tax evasion, laundering and corruption.

"This may also start more locally focused probes as there are likely to be disclosure issues."

The Panama Papers have whipped up a storm of controversy over offshore wealth, ensnaring political leaders, sports figures and underworld members across the globe in the scandal.

'Panama Papers' law firm under the media's lenses https://t.co/m8gCZ9ZGz5 pic.twitter.com/2wNv9zcKuz

— AFP news agency (@AFP) April 4, 2016

The Panama Papers: key facts on the huge journalists' investigation into tax 

evasion (AFP Photo/Thomas Saint-Cricq, Philippe Mouche)

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'Panama Papers' law firm under the media's lenses

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