Grain traders ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Dreyfus deny charges by Argentine government of substantial tax evasion The world’s four largest grain traders, responsible for the vast majority of global corn, soya and wheat trading and processing, have been accused of large-scale tax evasion in a landmark series of cases being brought against them by the Argentinian government. In an interview with the Guardian, Ricardo Echegaray, the head of Afip, the Argentine revenue and customs, has given a detailed account of the charges his department is bringing against ADM, Bunge, Cargill and Dreyfus. “These companies have gone into criminality,” Echegaray said. “2008 was when agricultural commodities prices spiked and was the best year for them in prices, yet we could see that the companies with the biggest sales showed very little profit in this country.” The Guardian has learned from separate sources that Afip is seeking to claim $476m (£290m) for what is says are unpaid tax and duties from Bunge, $252m from Cargill, and $140m from Dreyfus. The companies have all denied all the allegations and have said they will defend themselves vigorously. With the global food system and who controls it under intense scrutiny in recent weeks, thanks to record prices, the legal battle between Afip and the big “ABCD four”, as they are known, has taken on heightened significance. Oxfam, in a report earlier this week, warned of spiralling prices and a huge increase in global hunger over the next two decades, and said that corporate concentration in the global food trade was a structural flaw in the system. Echegaray said he had begun investigating Argentina’s large business taxpayers towards the end of 2008, cross-checking information given to his authorities with information from other countries where their exports were destined, by making use of tax information exchange treaties – some of which have been newly signed. He also cross-checked declarations made to Argentinian customs with corporate income tax returns. He said he had evidence from that detailed investigation that all four traders had submitted false declarations of sales and routed profits through tax havens or their headquarters, in contravention of Argentinian tax law. He also alleged they had on occasion used phantom companies to buy grain. He further alleged that they had inflated costs in Argentina to reduce taxable profits or claim tax credits there. The Afip inquiry has focused on the traders’ sales to Uruguay, among other low-tax jurisdictions. Echegaray said Bunge had set up an office in the tax-free zone of Montevideo through which it began routing its exports after 2007, from which point it declared no gains in Argentina. He alleged his checks had revealed that Bunge employed only a handful of people in Uruguay’s capital, and that it had no real imports or exports from that office other than small items for those few staff. Bunge was expelled from the Argentine exporters’ register last week. Bunge denied the allegations absolutely and was adamant it had broken no laws or tax rules. “We believe that we have done nothing wrong and that our past tax payments are complete. This is an issue that is not unique to Bunge, or even our industry. We will continue to take the appropriate legal steps to defend ourselves,” it said in a statement. Echegaray alleged that Cargill had also used Uruguay and Switzerland subsidiaries to evade taxes in Argentina. Cargill, ADM and Dreyfus were all suspended from the exporters’ register by the government earlier this year as a result of the investigation. Cargill said: “All the allegations made about Cargill are false. Cargill complies with all Argentine tax and customs regulations. We are vigorously defending various tax and customs audits and litigation.” ADM responded that it “conducts business in accordance with the laws, including those governing tax obligations, in the countries where we operate. We are co-operating with Afip to successfully resolve this situation.” Dreyfus declined to comment, but according to Ciara, the grain exporters’ trade association in Argentina, it too denies all the charges. Ciara’s president, Alberto Rodriguez, commented that the government’s charges of tax evasion against all four traders was political posturing. Tax avoidance Argentina Food & drink industry Food Food security Farming Uruguay Felicity Lawrence guardian.co.uk
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“It was unexpected because I really didn’t think that anybody would notice — except now that I see the bus, I could see how it would attract attention.” — SALLY HEATH, Sarah Palin’s mother, on the media circus surrounding her daughter’s “learning tour” through various historical sites on the East Coast (via Swampland)
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President under shadow of impeachment in latest spat with the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is locked in confrontation with MPs after being warned he acted illegally by declaring himself caretaker oil minister in what his critics called an unconstitutional power grab. Iranian media reported that the majlis (parliament), which has repeatedly clashed with the president over key policy issues in recent weeks, voted 165-1 to approve a report by its energy committee, which declared Ahmadinejad’s move an “obvious violation of law”. The vote was triggered by the president’s sacking of the oil minister, Massoud Mirkazemi, which was part of a plan to merge eight ministries into four to cut their overall number to 17. Observers said it was unclear whether there was now a real threat that Ahmadinejad could be impeached. But it was the latest spat in an increasingly ugly struggle between the president and his onetime mentor, the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Aides to Khamenei have castigated Ahmadinejad’s controversial chief-of-staff Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaie as representing a “deviant current” moving Iran away from Islamic principles. Accusations of “perversion”, witchcraft and exorcism have been bandied around – as well as more conventional complaints of corruption. The majlis vote was spearheaded by the speaker, Ali Larijani, who was sacked by Ahmadinejad as Iran’s national security chief in 2007 but is seen as a prospective candidate for the presidency in 2013. Ahmadinejad’s original bid to streamline his cabinet was blocked by Khamenei. Ahmadinejad fought back by dismissing three ministers and temporarily taking over the oil ministry, but drew furious criticism from Khamenei’s camp. The move by MPs reflects mounting alarm by Ahmadinejad’s rivals in the country’s conservative ruling elite, including hardline clerics and the elite Revolutionary Guards, especially since it involves the hugely important energy sector – the source of 80% of Iranian state revenue – and because Ahmadinejad is famous for his populist economic policies. Late last month parliament voted to investigate allegations that the president had misused state funds as effective bribes by giving $80 (£48.80) each to 9 million voters before the 2009 presidential election. To complicate matters further, Iran is also the current chairman of Opec, although Ahmadinejad has said he will not attend its summit in Vienna next week. “This illegal and hasty action will undermine the Islamic Republic of Iran’s interests on the international level,” the conservative-dominated parliament said in its report. “Mr Ahmadinejad as oil minister has issued some orders and will continue to issue orders which are obvious examples of illegal interference with governmental financial resources.” Ahmadinejad has the power to remove ministers and put caretakers in place for up to three months before having to consult parliament and insists that no-one should have been surprised by the reshuffle. Iran’s constitutional watchdog, the guardian council, has already called his takeover of the oil ministry illegal. The final say on the ministry lies with Khamenei – whose wholehearted backing for Ahmadinejad since his disputed re-election two years ago can clearly no longer be taken for granted. In recent months, Ahmadinejad has sought to assert the presidential prerogative in hiring and firing ministers. He got his way in December, sacking the foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, a Khamenei favourite, without warning. But tensions exploded in April when Khamenei stopped Ahmadinejad from dismissing the intelligence minister, Heydar Moslehi, in a public intervention to limit the president’s power. That provoked Ahmadinejad into a bizarre 11-day refusal to appear in public or carry out any duties. The escalating power struggle in Tehran comes less than a year before parliamentary elections – due in March 2012 – in which prominent opposition figures are unlikely to be allowed to run, and rival conservative factions will battle for control of the legislature. Presidential elections are due in 2013. Iran Middle East Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Ian Black guardian.co.uk
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Click here to view this media Rachel Maddow talked about the influence and insular nature of right-wing talk radio started by Rush Limbaugh that has now been adopted by Fox News where they sell their audience “grievance, resentment and belonging” and how that made it inevitable that we would end up with someone like Palin using avoidance of the “mainstream” media as part of a political platform. Personally, I don’t think it’s a political platform but a let’s make some money for Sarah Palin platform and there are differences of agreement on that one, so time will tell whether I’m right or not. On Chris Matthews’ weekend show a couple of weeks ago, Maddow made this prediction: MADDOW: I predict that there will be a candidate from the right side out of the Republican Party, it may be Sarah Palin or somebody else, but they will establish a new litmus test for Republican candidates, which is that they do not do mainstream media interviews; that doing a mainstream media interview is itself a capitulation, that only conservative media should be engaged with… MATTHEWS: You mean Fox and Limbaugh, radio? MADDOW: That’s right. I really cannot picture another candidate being allowed to only talk to conservative media outlets other than Sarah Palin and that’s another reason I do not think she’s actually running besides the fact that she has not quit working for Fox News. No presidential candidate that’s actually running and not just drumming up media interest like I believe Palin is, is going to be allowed to run an entire campaign and not talk to all of the media without being eventually savaged by the press as a whole whether it be print or television. And no candidate is going to win without participating in debates, which she’s not up to. The press is chasing her around right now because they love lazy tabloid “journalism” and that’s exactly what Palin is giving them to cover. So I disagree with Rachel that this will be a new litmus test. I think it’s a Palin gimmick and ultimately it falls from under its own weight of being ridiculous if someone wants to be taken seriously as a presidential candidate. I do agree with what Rachel then went on to discuss with Media Matters founder David Brock and that is how Fox News has helped Palin to advance that strategy and get as far as she has with being taken seriously as a potential candidate for president in 2012 and how they have successfully manipulted their audiences into believing that they are the only place that can be trusted to hear the truth and to distrust other media outlets. Click here to view this media As Brock explained, sadly this is nothing new and goes back twenty years before Rush Limbaugh came on the air with the founding of organizations like Accuracy in Media designed to stigmatize the press as “liberal” and tell their conservative base that they can’t trust outlets like the New York Times. As he noted, by the time Limbaugh came on the air, there was already a push for fake “balance” in the media which “allowed the flat earth society into the conversation” and the right for years has been very good at building an alternative media which allowed conservatives to dismiss news stories they didn’t like. And sadly as Brock pointed out that alternative media simply ended up being a way to push misinformation rather than inform their viewers and listeners. When asked why the right has been so much more successful at this than the left, Brock pointed out what the organization on the right goes back to the days of Richard Nixon, so they’ve been at this a lot longer than any alternative media organizations on the left. When asked how Fox might be abiding the double standard with Palin if she is actually running compared to how they have treated their other contributors that are now candidates, Brock said he doesn’t think Fox takes their standards seriously and as he pointed out that they don’t have the same concerns for continuing to allow Karl Rove on the air who is running “the biggest and most important political enterprise in the right-wing now” and he’s still on their payroll. Brock seemed to think that Palin would continue this strategy of dissing the “mainstream” media if she does get in all the way though a general election because she thinks it works for her. Frankly as I’ve said already, I don’t see how she could manage to get away with it and I really don’t think she’s running. All I can say is I don’t even want to think about the consequences if she does actually run or if heaven forbid the public in this country would be stupid enough to elect her. She’d be George Bush on steroids with an even bigger bunch of neocons pulling her strings and telling her what to do.
Continue reading …Bill O’Reilly claims Sarah Palin ran Alaska ‘Pretty Well’. Ummm, Bill, She Quit
June 1, 2011 No CommentBill O’Reilly opened his show by discussing Sarah Palin’s possible presidential run and how voters and the GOP establishment feel about her. He highlighted that 59% of Americans have a negative opinion of her and said she’s a long, long shot to win, but Conservatives would vote for her anyway and hey guys, she ran Alaska pretty well. O’Reilly: … the rap against her is she’s not smart enough to be president, but millions of Conservatives like her and believe she is qualified to run the country. As Talking Points has pointed out in the past, the Governor did a pretty good job running Alaska, did she not? She did not. I’d say at least the person would have to actually serve out their term. She quit her job as Alaskan Governor with about eighteen months left when she was elected in 2006 after Alska kicked out a crook. She also missed a ton of time on the job while campaigning with John McCain as his VP choice in the 2008 election. That disqualifies her immediately as having a successful tenure as leader of the Alaska. Her reasons for leaving were also quite dubious and not worthy of any serious political leader . Palin offered few clues about her ambitions but said she arrived at her decision in part to protect her family, which has faced withering criticism and occasional mockery, and to escape ethics probes that have drained her family’s finances and hampered her ability to govern. She said leaving office is in the best interest of the state and will allow her to more effectively advocate for issues of importance to her, including energy independence and national security. “I love my job and I love Alaska, and it hurts to make this choice, but I’m doing what’s best for them,” Palin said, the sun glinting off a seaplane on Lake Lucille behind her. if protecting her family from the media is really a concern, running for president then would be totally out of the question. “As I thought about this announcement that I would not seek reelection, I thought about how much fun other governors have as lame ducks: They maybe travel around their state, travel to other states, maybe take their overseas international trade missions,” she said. She could have stayed on and tried to help her home state after she won the Republican primary because of the many sleazy things Gov. Frank Murkowski did that had incensed all of Alaska: Popular opinion turned on Murkowski after missteps that constantly thrust him into battle with his political opponents and his own Republican-led Legislature, including: appointing his daughter to his U.S. Senate seat, unpopular budget cuts his first year and a highly publicized fight to buy a state jet. The more Alaskans got to see of Murkowski the less they liked him. Critics have questioned Murkowski’s leadership skills, his endless ethical lapses, and his secret pipeline proposal with the three largest oil companies in Alaska behind the backs of state legislators. Palin wanted to make millions of dollars and avoid the annoyance that comes with serving in a high office. I’d say she was an absolute failure, Bill. This post isn’t about Palin, but about the spin machine created to help Conservatives win stardom and elections.
Continue reading …NPR Host Decries ‘Fairness Bias’ – When Media Overcompensate to Conservatives
June 1, 2011 No Comment
NPR host Brooke Gladstone admits that journalists are generally more liberal than regular Americans, but she thinks they overcompensate for their bias by giving too much of a voice to conservatives. For instance, Gladstone believes conservatives do not deserve an equal voice with liberals in the global warming debate. Gladstone, whose interview appeared on the blog of CNN's In the Arena, has voiced in the past that the media have a “tendency to bend over backwards to prove they aren't liberal.” In the interview she clarified the media's over-reaction as “fairness bias.” Aren't those two words contradictory? Apparently not for Gladstone, who thinks the press can be “too fair” to conservatives in giving them more air-time than liberals, or granting them an equal voice when their argument doesn't warrant such a pedestal. According to her, this is the product of conservatives “hammering” the liberal bias of the media since the days of Nixon. “I do not for a second advocate banning any voices from the air, but to give equal time to those who dispute say, global warming, merely muddies the water,” Gladstone claimed. “The public is not served by hearing prolonged presentations of a nonsensical debate. Give them a voice, but not an equal voice. That's the same as lying in order to appear fair.” For the full interview on CNN's In the Arena blog, click here .
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Environmental agency grants license to begin building on the Amazon dam, which will be the third biggest in world Brazil’s environment agency gave its definitive approval on Wednesday for construction of the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam, a controversial $17bn (£10bn) project in the Amazon that has drawn criticism from native Indians and conservationists . The regulator, Ibama, issued licenses to the consortium in charge of Belo Monte to build the massive dam on the Xingu river, a tributary of the Amazon. The government has said the 11,200-megawatt project, due to start producing electricity in 2015, is crucial to provide power to Brazil’s fast-growing economy. It will be the world’s third biggest hydroelectric dam after China’s Three Gorges and Itaipu on the border of Brazil and Paraguay. In January, Ibama had issued a preliminary license allowing the construction site to be set up. Since then the project has been halted and resumed several times owing to court injunctions obtained by environmentalists and native Indians opposing the dam. Norte Energia, the consortium that won the auction to build and operate Belo Monte, is made up of state-run utility holding company Eletrobras ELET6.SA, Brazil’s second-largest pension fund Petros and local construction companies. Originally conceived 30 years ago, progress on Belo Monte has been slowed over the years by protests, including an incident in 2009 in which Kayapo Indians armed with clubs and machetes attacked a state electricity official. Critics from singer Sting to Hollywood director James Cameron and environmental group Greenpeace have said the dam will damage the environment and harm thousands of people living in the region. The 3.75-mile dam will displace 30,000 river dwellers, partially dry up a 62-mile stretch of the Xingu river, and flood large areas of forest and grass land. Wave, tidal and hydropower Energy Renewable energy Rivers Amazon rainforest Forests Deforestation guardian.co.uk
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Head of Crown Prosecution Service says he would like to see TV cameras allowed in court rooms ‘in principal’ The head of the Crown Prosecution Service has said he would like to see TV cameras allowed into court rooms “in principal” and that the idea could be implemented quickly if it was approved by the government. Keir Starmer, the director of public prosecutions, added that allowing cameras into the courts would improve the public’s perception of the judicial system. “I would be in favour [of cameras] in criminal courts,” he told BBC Radio 4′s The Media Show on Wednesday. “In principal I would be in favour [of cameras in court] in both sets of proceedings [criminal and civil].” He claimed that the majority of solicitors now favoured such a move in the belief that opening up the court system to greater public scrutiny would restore faith in the way they operate. Starmer said: “The principal of open justice has been there for a very long time.” Broadcasters have been lobbying for some time to be allowed to film court proceedings, with Sky News particularly vocal on the subject . Sky News wants to film parts of court hearings initially, such as judges’ verdicts, but is open about the fact it would like full access eventually. Starmer added that witness intimidation was a potential problem, but said measures could be put in place to guard against this and to protect “vulnerable” people including children and those with mental health issues. “The judge can exercise that control” he said. “If there are vulnerable people that’s a good reason not to have cameras… If limited parts [of proceedings] have to be excluded from the cameras then so be it.” Starmer added that fears cameras would lead to court hearings becoming sensationalised were misplaced and that the OJ Simpson trial in the US, which ended in the former football stars’ acquittal and is often cited as a reason not to let cameras in, was now an out-of-date example to draw on. “OJ is always given as the example of sensationalism, but a lot of lessons have been learned since then,” he said. “After all, in a big case the court is always packed anyway, [and there are] cameras outside… There are plenty of examples other than OJ to show this builds confidence [in the system].” Starmer added: “If there is a decision in principal that this should happen, it should happen fairly quickly.” The former Labour Lord Chancellor Derry Irvine approved the use of cameras in the court of appeal in 2004 as part of a pilot scheme, but the coverage was never shown. • To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly “for publication”. • To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook Television industry Keir Starmer TV news James Robinson guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …If you believe Sarah Palin’s One Nation bus tour is something other than a prelude to a White House run, Jon Stewart has a bridge in Brooklyn he’d like to sell you. The Daily Show host, returning from hiatus, mocks the media’s response to the Palin tour. Perhaps the real…
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Owner able to gather information including pictures, Facebook account and work details leading to suspect’s eventual arrest An alleged laptop thief has been arrested after his victim used a secret application on the computer to track its whereabouts and take photographs of the perpetrator. Joshua Kaufman’s MacBook was stolen from his apartment in Oakland, California, on 21 March, but when he reported the crime to the police it was deemed a low priority – so he turned to Twitter and Tumblr to get it back. “I reported the crime to the police and even told them where it was, but they couldn’t help me due to lack of resources,” Kaufman said. Rather than give up the laptop as lost the designer had a trick up his sleeve. Kaufman had downloaded an application to his computer that tracked the machine’s location and took pictures from its inbuilt camera – unbeknown to the thief. “I’m using the awesome app, Hidden, to capture these photos of this guy who has my MacBook,” Kaufman wrote. He told the New York Daily News he had returned to his apartment on a Monday night in March to find the laptop, a Kindle and some jewellery missing. Kaufman called the police, but the case was filed as low priority. However, using Hidden he was soon garnering information about the laptop’s new owner, including pictures, his Facebook account, his place of work and business email address. Upon returning to the police, Kaufman was told they did not have the manpower to pursue the alleged thief. It was then that he decided to spread news of the theft himself, starting a Tumblr account called This Guy Has My MacBook . Kaufman promptly began uploading some of the pictures and other information that Hidden had relayed back. Readers – tens of thousands have shared the blog on Twitter and Facebook – were able to see pictures of the suspect asleep on a settee in front of the computer, lying in bed topless in front of the computer and, less conventionally, driving in front of the computer. NY Daily News reported that Oakland police finally decided to investigate when media outlets began contacting officers for comment after the saga had become an internet sensation. A mission to rescue the laptop – and perhaps to save some face – was scrambled on Tuesday night and the man in the photographs was soon detained, much to the computer owner’s delight. “ARRESTED! An Oakland police officer just called me to let me know that they arrested the guy in my photos! BOOYA!” Kaufman tweeted . “The police used my evidence (email which pointed to a cab service) that he was a driver and tricked him into picking them up. Nice work OPD!” he added . Hiddenapp.com pledges that the app will “locate your stolen computer anywhere on the planet, collect photos of the thief and screen shots of the computer in use”. It is not the first example of similar software being used to track stolen laptops. However, on Wednesday some Twitter users were sceptical as to whether there may be something more to the affair. “It seems like a pr-stunt for the app Hidden,” @Chalottn posted , while @Usman C wrote : “What i don’t understand is y this thief would sleep and drive w the screen open (pics w cam). Looks like PR-stunt to me.” Hidden, which is based in Watford, Hertfordshire, has denied it is a marketing ploy, telling one sceptic : “It’s a complete surprise to us too, no dodgy marketing here.” Last month Sean Power , an author and consultant based in New York, used Prey software to track down his MacBook , tracing it to a bar in the city while he was in his native Canada. Power posted maps of the laptop’s location and pictures of the rogue user to Twitter, inadvertently scrambling a team of followers to the bar and eventually managing to retrieve the computer. In January Erick Lounsbury used Orbicule to track his laptop to Southern California after it was stolen from his home in Bremerton, Washington state. “People need to know that you’ve gotta take care of your own stuff, because no one else is going to,” Lounsbury told the Kitsap Sun after being reunited with his machine. “You’ve gotta do your part.” Computing Apple Facebook Software Internet Twitter United States Blogging Social networking Adam Gabbatt guardian.co.uk
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