Latest news with #PublicProsecutionService
Reuters
3 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
Morgan Stanley says it will contest Dutch dividend tax evasion probe
THE HAGUE, May 28 (Reuters) - Morgan Stanley (MS.N), opens new tab said on Wednesday it will contest a Dutch public prosecutor's investigation into tax evasion related to dividends on Dutch shares. The Dutch public prosecution service said on Wednesday it would subpoena a foreign bank on suspicion of dividend tax evasion. It said that between 2009 and 2013, a subsidiary of a foreign bank based in Amsterdam submitted five corporate tax returns in which a total of 124 million euros in withholding tax was offset, related to 825 million euros in dividends that were distributed on Dutch listed shares. "Following an is suspicion that the subsidiary has unlawfully offset the withholding tax and is therefore suspected of tax evasion," the Dutch Public Prosecution Service said, adding it was also holding the European parent company responsible. The prosecutor did not specify the foreign bank being investigated, but a source close to the investigation said the probe concerns Morgan Stanley. Asked about the report, a spokesperson for Morgan Stanley said the bank was aware of the probe and would defend its case. "Morgan Stanley rejects the Prosecutor's allegations about this complex, decade-old matter and intends to contest them vigorously," the bank said. "Despite our full cooperation and the lack of clarity in the relevant tax legislation, the Prosecutor is basing this decision on an incomplete investigation and record, in violation of established process." Morgan Stanley offers a full range of banking services in the Netherlands since the opening of its Amsterdam office in 1997.
CBC
3 days ago
- Business
- CBC
5-year Canada Revenue Agency investigation into B.C. 'shadow broker' doomed by 'technicality'
Federal prosecutors decided not to lay charges stemming from a five-year Canada Revenue Agency investigation into a half-billion-dollar alleged mortgage fraud case because of a "technicality," according to documents obtained by the CBC. The documents — released through freedom of information — detail attempts by B.C.'s financial regulator to interest law enforcement agencies in a so-called 'shadow' mortgage broker and the more than two dozen real estate professionals who assisted him. B.C. Financial Services Agency investigators spoke with Vancouver police and the RCMP about their probe into Jay Kanth Chaudhary. The documents say the CRA ultimately pursued allegations that the unregistered broker had failed to pay nearly $1 million in taxes. But last summer, a senior investigator with the CRA's western region criminal investigations division wrote to a legal manager for B.C.'s Financial Services Agency to tell her the investigation was over. "Unfortunately, due to a technicality, the Public Prosecution Service of Canada has decided not to lay charges for this investigation," Aaron Altrows wrote in an email. "All is not lost, though, as I did refer this case to the civil side of CRA, where assessments were completed. This was an excellent referral and very much appreciated to come from your agency. Please continue to send us referrals in the future." 'Staggering' scope of activities The documents provide new insight into a multi-year investigation into Chaudhary and the network of real estate agents and mortgage brokers who fronted his efforts to secure $500 million in financing for unqualified homebuyers through altered tax and bank statements. The nature of the "technicality" that voided the laying of even tax-related charges is not explained in the FOI documents, and the Public Prosecution Service said it would "not comment on investigations that it may or may not be undertaking." BCFSA's director of investigations, Raheel Humayun, has called the scope of Chaudhary's unregistered activities "staggering" — not to mention the number of licensed professionals who violated ethical and professional codes to help him. But beyond licence suspensions, cancellations and fines up to a maximum of $50,000, no one associated with the scheme appears to have faced any criminal sanctions. BCFSA documents show it wasn't for lack of trying. '30 possibly associated individuals' A "case note" claims investigators for the regulator met with members of the Vancouver police department's financial crime unit on April 3, 2019, "to discuss whether VPD would entertain pursuing this file from a criminal perspective." Another "case note" for the same day says staff also met RCMP "to discuss whether this investigation was aligned with the current mandate of the Financial Integrity Unit and whether there would be any interest in taking on this file from a criminal perspective." The documents show senior RCMP investigators then appeared to take a second look at the file four years later — long after the case had started making headlines and after Chaudhary was summoned as a witness to a provincial commission into money laundering. Humayun wrote a memo in January 2023 to two inspectors with the Federal and Serious Organized Crime unit, "describing the potentially criminal activity we have observed during our regulatory investigations." "The names, DOBs and basic allegations against ... these 30 possibly associated individuals are contained within an appendix to the letter," he wrote. "Our office is available to provide further details, including the evidence or reports in our possession." But nothing happened. In a statement, the VPD said the alleged violations were "primarily regulatory in nature" — meaning the BCFSA was the best body to investigate. The RCMP did not explain its decision not to proceed, refusing to "confirm the identity of any person, business or entity who may or may not be subject of an investigation." 'Falsely reporting their income to CRA' The Canada Revenue Agency started showing interest in the summer of 2019. An email written as a "potential lead" from BCFSA investigator Doug Brecknell to CRA Criminal Investigations lays out the regulator's grounds for suspicion. "From the evidence and documents produced by the real estate licensees, it appears that the real estate licensees may have been under or falsely reporting their income to CRA," Brecknell wrote. "Both false and believed to be genuine tax documents for the real estate licensees were obtained. A review of tax documents ... indicates that it would be unlikely that the real estate licensees' reported income would be sufficient to afford the mortgage payments being made." In the months that followed, the CRA got a warrant to seize records the registrar of mortgage brokers had already taken from Chaudhary and Shane Christopher Ballard — a former mortgage broker who later admitted facilitating 165 applications for Chaudhary. Allegations of unremitted taxes The application to obtain the search warrant says CRA investigators believed Chaudhary — also known as Mike Kumar or Jay Michaels — "earned $5,283,347 of client fees and $642,344 of referral fees" between 2009 and 2019. "It is alleged that between 2012 and 2018 the unreported net business income, unremitted income tax and unremitted Goods and Services Tax/Harmonized Sales Tax is estimated to be $2,967,915, $798,505 and $163,033, respectively," the search warrant says. "It is further alleged that the estimated unremitted Canada Pension Plan contributions for this period is $23,623." The search warrant gives an example of a businessman who paid Chaudhary nearly $5,000 — one per cent of the mortgage principal — to arrange home financing for his son using faked tax documents. The documents say Ballard then paid Chaudhary a $1,250 fee for the mortgage referral he got to submit the application to CMLS Financial. Ballard allegedly paid Chaudhary a total of $282,900 in cash as referral fees for the mortgage applications he handled between 2015 and 2018. Earlier this year, Ballard — who now works as a home inspector — was banned for life from being a mortgage broker and ordered to pay a $50,000 fine. At the time of Chaudhary's Cullen Commission testimony in February 2021, his lawyer said the CRA's investigation was in "charge approval." The "technicality" appears to have arisen between then and 2024. Once the CRA dropped the criminal investigation last summer, the agency returned the investigation files to the regulator. 'I don't think it can be prevented' Many of the real estate agents who brought clients to Chaudhary took advantage of his services themselves, including two individuals stripped of their licenses earlier this year in a series of actions the regulator took against the "extensive web" of people around the shadow broker. One of them admitted to using fake financial statements to buy a house a year after she declared a negative annual income of $459. Chaudhary was licensed as a mortgage broker from 2007 to 2008, when he was suspended following an investigation which found he had submitted falsified records for a range of clients. He spoke about his activities at length at the Cullen Commission on money laundering in 2021, maintaining that he helped clients who might not meet an institutional lender's qualifications avoid the dangerous world of private lenders. Chaudhary claimed none of his clients ever defaulted on a loan, none of the banks that gave them money were ever hurt, and a booming B.C. real estate market meant he was always busy. "In reality, I don't think it can be prevented," he told the commission at one point.
Glasgow Times
4 days ago
- Politics
- Glasgow Times
Peaceful protest ‘should not be criminalised', says O'Toole
Stormont Opposition Leader Matthew O'Toole was speaking following the arrest of two protesters in Belfast on Saturday. Sue Pentel, a high-profile campaigner against Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip, was one of two women detained by officers on suspicion of criminal damage. Videos circulated online of the arrest of the 72-year-old indicate the alleged offence related to the placing of stickers on a bank's ATM machine. Ms Pentel and the other woman who was arrested, who is in her 50s, were released later on Saturday pending a report to Northern Ireland's Public Prosecution Service (PPS). Stormont Opposition leader Matthew O'Toole said peaceful protest is a 'profound right' in a democracy (Liam McBurney/PA) Mr O'Toole mentioned the arrests during Members' Statements in the Assembly on Tuesday morning. However Stormont Speaker Edwin Poots warned MLAs against 'second-guessing' police. Mr O'Toole told MLAs: 'It's important to say there is no more profound right in a democracy than peaceful protest. 'Over the weekend we saw dozens more innocent people lose their lives in Gaza as a result of the bombardment by the Netanyahu regime. We are witnessing an ongoing genocide in Gaza. 'People from all over this region, from all backgrounds, all ages, all perspectives are completely, frankly, in disbelief at what they see on their screens. They want some form of registering protest, dissent and challenging what is happening in the Middle East. 'One means is through peaceful protest. 'One of the people who was arrested is a woman named Sue Pentel, who is in her 70s. She also just happens to be Jewish. She will be known to people here because she is often here, peacefully and respectfully engaging with MLAs on her views in relation to the Middle East.' He went on: 'I understand that the PSNI has a difficult job to do. 'I don't trivialise the fact that in fast-moving situations sometimes there are judgments that have to be made by police officers, but I don't think anybody, certainly not the dozens and dozens of my constituents who are, frankly, appalled by what's happening in Gaza, who have emailed me in the last few days to say 'What the hell is going on in our society whenever a peaceful protest is met with arrests of pensioners?' 'Peaceful protest in Belfast city centre, even if it is a minor convenience, is not something which should be criminalised. 'That is legitimate peaceful protest and, yes, I respect that police officers have a job to do in all these circumstances, but let's please be proportionate and respect the rights of ordinary people to register dissent and protest.' Stormont Assembly Speaker Edwin Poots warned MLAs against 'second-guessing' police (Liam McBurney/PA) Mr Poots urged caution on comments around live investigations: 'I just want to make it very clear that the police have a role to do, and it's not our place to be second-guessing that role. 'There are a number of matters of the day and urgent questions that were put in that related to different events that have taken place, questioning police, and I think that we need to be very, very careful whenever there is a live investigation. 'This hasn't got to the stage of there being charges, and may never get to that stage, but there is a live investigation and it's not our role in this House to influence police decisions on investigations. 'They have to go through their course, it goes to the PPS, there is a due process to happen there, and it's not for us to seek to influence that. 'I just caution Members on that issue.'
Western Telegraph
4 days ago
- Politics
- Western Telegraph
Peaceful protest ‘should not be criminalised', says O'Toole
Stormont Opposition Leader Matthew O'Toole was speaking following the arrest of two protesters in Belfast on Saturday. Sue Pentel, a high-profile campaigner against Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip, was one of two women detained by officers on suspicion of criminal damage. Videos circulated online of the arrest of the 72-year-old indicate the alleged offence related to the placing of stickers on a bank's ATM machine. Ms Pentel and the other woman who was arrested, who is in her 50s, were released later on Saturday pending a report to Northern Ireland's Public Prosecution Service (PPS). Stormont Opposition leader Matthew O'Toole said peaceful protest is a 'profound right' in a democracy (Liam McBurney/PA) Mr O'Toole mentioned the arrests during Members' Statements in the Assembly on Tuesday morning. However Stormont Speaker Edwin Poots warned MLAs against 'second-guessing' police. Mr O'Toole told MLAs: 'It's important to say there is no more profound right in a democracy than peaceful protest. 'Over the weekend we saw dozens more innocent people lose their lives in Gaza as a result of the bombardment by the Netanyahu regime. We are witnessing an ongoing genocide in Gaza. 'People from all over this region, from all backgrounds, all ages, all perspectives are completely, frankly, in disbelief at what they see on their screens. They want some form of registering protest, dissent and challenging what is happening in the Middle East. 'One means is through peaceful protest. 'One of the people who was arrested is a woman named Sue Pentel, who is in her 70s. She also just happens to be Jewish. She will be known to people here because she is often here, peacefully and respectfully engaging with MLAs on her views in relation to the Middle East.' He went on: 'I understand that the PSNI has a difficult job to do. 'I don't trivialise the fact that in fast-moving situations sometimes there are judgments that have to be made by police officers, but I don't think anybody, certainly not the dozens and dozens of my constituents who are, frankly, appalled by what's happening in Gaza, who have emailed me in the last few days to say 'What the hell is going on in our society whenever a peaceful protest is met with arrests of pensioners?' 'Peaceful protest in Belfast city centre, even if it is a minor convenience, is not something which should be criminalised. 'That is legitimate peaceful protest and, yes, I respect that police officers have a job to do in all these circumstances, but let's please be proportionate and respect the rights of ordinary people to register dissent and protest.' Stormont Assembly Speaker Edwin Poots warned MLAs against 'second-guessing' police (Liam McBurney/PA) Mr Poots urged caution on comments around live investigations: 'I just want to make it very clear that the police have a role to do, and it's not our place to be second-guessing that role. 'There are a number of matters of the day and urgent questions that were put in that related to different events that have taken place, questioning police, and I think that we need to be very, very careful whenever there is a live investigation. 'This hasn't got to the stage of there being charges, and may never get to that stage, but there is a live investigation and it's not our role in this House to influence police decisions on investigations. 'They have to go through their course, it goes to the PPS, there is a due process to happen there, and it's not for us to seek to influence that. 'I just caution Members on that issue.'
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Peaceful protest ‘should not be criminalised', says O'Toole
Peaceful protest should not be 'criminalised', the Northern Ireland Assembly has heard. Stormont Opposition Leader Matthew O'Toole was speaking following the arrest of two protesters in Belfast on Saturday. Sue Pentel, a high-profile campaigner against Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip, was one of two women detained by officers on suspicion of criminal damage. Videos circulated online of the arrest of the 72-year-old indicate the alleged offence related to the placing of stickers on a bank's ATM machine. Ms Pentel and the other woman who was arrested, who is in her 50s, were released later on Saturday pending a report to Northern Ireland's Public Prosecution Service (PPS). Mr O'Toole mentioned the arrests during Members' Statements in the Assembly on Tuesday morning. However Stormont Speaker Edwin Poots warned MLAs against 'second-guessing' police. Mr O'Toole told MLAs: 'It's important to say there is no more profound right in a democracy than peaceful protest. 'Over the weekend we saw dozens more innocent people lose their lives in Gaza as a result of the bombardment by the Netanyahu regime. We are witnessing an ongoing genocide in Gaza. 'People from all over this region, from all backgrounds, all ages, all perspectives are completely, frankly, in disbelief at what they see on their screens. They want some form of registering protest, dissent and challenging what is happening in the Middle East. 'One means is through peaceful protest. 'One of the people who was arrested is a woman named Sue Pentel, who is in her 70s. She also just happens to be Jewish. She will be known to people here because she is often here, peacefully and respectfully engaging with MLAs on her views in relation to the Middle East.' He went on: 'I understand that the PSNI has a difficult job to do. 'I don't trivialise the fact that in fast-moving situations sometimes there are judgments that have to be made by police officers, but I don't think anybody, certainly not the dozens and dozens of my constituents who are, frankly, appalled by what's happening in Gaza, who have emailed me in the last few days to say 'What the hell is going on in our society whenever a peaceful protest is met with arrests of pensioners?' 'Peaceful protest in Belfast city centre, even if it is a minor convenience, is not something which should be criminalised. 'That is legitimate peaceful protest and, yes, I respect that police officers have a job to do in all these circumstances, but let's please be proportionate and respect the rights of ordinary people to register dissent and protest.' Mr Poots urged caution on comments around live investigations: 'I just want to make it very clear that the police have a role to do, and it's not our place to be second-guessing that role. 'There are a number of matters of the day and urgent questions that were put in that related to different events that have taken place, questioning police, and I think that we need to be very, very careful whenever there is a live investigation. 'This hasn't got to the stage of there being charges, and may never get to that stage, but there is a live investigation and it's not our role in this House to influence police decisions on investigations. 'They have to go through their course, it goes to the PPS, there is a due process to happen there, and it's not for us to seek to influence that. 'I just caution Members on that issue.'
