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SV is not satisfied with the fact that the White Paper on the Petroleum Fund does not address the issue of tax havens. The government will wait until next year.
The representative of the Storting, Kari Elisabeth Kaski (SV).
Håkon Mosvold Larsen
Published:
– It is incredibly disappointing that there are no proposals in the Oil Fund report on how the Oil Fund can take the lead in the fight against tax havens, economic crime and corruption, says Kari Elisabeth Kaski (SV).
This year there has been a great debate about tax havens in the media, regarding the appointment of Nicolai Tangen as the new director of the Petroleum Fund.
Tangen eventually agreed to sell the funds he owns in the Cayman Islands, which the billionaire himself has established through hedge fund AKO Capital.
His promises helped dampen criticism of Norges Bank, which had originally agreed to an employment agreement that would allow it to keep its shares in the fund and its ownership of British AKO Capital.
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On Monday, Finance Minister Jan Tore Sanner (H) presented this year’s report to the Storting on the Petroleum Fund and the National Insurance Fund. There, the debate on taxes and transparency was skipped.
– Because I warn that we will work on it until the next message, Sanner tells E24.
– Taxes and openness have been an important issue, and still are. And we will work more on the issue before the report that will arrive in spring 2021, Sanner tells E24.
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– He had a clear impulse
Kaski believes that it is urgent that the big players, such as the Oil Fund, take action, after several money laundering cases also against large Nordic banks and several major leaks documenting problematic cash flows.
– Now you had a clear drive. It is important that the criteria are tightened and that the Petroleum Fund takes the lead in the work against crime and tax havens, says Kaski.
– We also see this in the big leak now, which shows how cash flows are going globally. I’m afraid that by putting this off until this spring, one also postpones doing something, he says.
With this, he refers to the leaks that, among other things, document that the main banks assist fraudsters, criminals and oligarchs in the mobilization of money through dubious transactions, which has been mentioned by Aftenposten.
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– It looks weird
Kaski believes that the Petroleum Fund should set stricter requirements for companies with regard to taxes and transparency. Actors like the Tax Justice Network have for many years questioned the Petroleum Fund’s investments and offices in low-tax jurisdictions.
The Petroleum Fund has announced that it will close its real estate offices in Luxembourg, as it has done since 2011. The fund still owns many companies based in the Cayman Islands.
– The process surrounding Tangen’s appointment has brought this to the fore, and we know that the statements from Norges Bank and the Governor have been noticed internationally. It seems strange that he doesn’t address it in such a message, says Kaski.
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Stronger against money laundering
What the SV representative considers most urgent is to implement some of the proposals of a committee led by Professor Ola Mestad. Several proposals were made this summer after reviewing the ethics of the Petroleum Fund.
– The most important thing is to clarify the ethical guidelines on financial crimes and money laundering, as recommended by the Mestad committee, says Kaski.
– The Mestad committee recommended that these issues be included more clearly in the extraction rules. SV will propose this in report processing this fall, he says.
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Therefore, five of Norwegian’s aircraft are owned by the Cayman Islands.
Alibaba and Tencent
She believes that the government could also have announced a review of the Oil Fund’s portfolio. Aftenposten / E24 wrote last month that the Petroleum Fund has invested in more than 300 companies in the Cayman Islands.
The fund has invested, among other things, NOK 60 billion in Chinese Alibaba and NOK 53 billion in Chinese Tencent, both registered in the Cayman Islands.
– The Petroleum Fund is heavily invested in tax havens. Then you have to tighten the expectations document on taxes and openness, and help us get out of the tax havens in which we are very involved, says Kaski.
If the fund becomes tighter and fully withdraws from all companies registered in those jurisdictions, it could potentially affect performance. Kaski is not categorical about the fund immediately leaving all of these companies.
– You have to assess why they are in tax havens and what can be achieved through business dialogue and expectations documents, he says.
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