Europe’s Tax Haven Investments

The IFJP published its first self-generated investigation in October 2014. It was the front page splash of Germany’s Tagesspiegel and also published in the EU Observer, De Correspondent in Dutch, Mada Masr in Egypt in English and Arabic, and the Ugandan Observer.

Europe’s tax haven investments was an investigation into Qalaa holdings, Africa’s largest private equity fund. The IFJP found that the fund paid minimal corporation tax despite paying dividends of over $2bn. It had received hundreds of millions of dollars in investments from Europe’s development finance institutions such as the European Investment Bank. In addition, we showed how companies controlling these publically backed investments were based in the British Virgin Islands and Mauritius, despite the EIB policies in place to prevent investments in tax havens. As a result of the investigation the European Parliament has said that they will look into the matter.

In April 2015 NGOs Counterbalance and RE:Common published a report into the the banks anti tax-haven policies which cited the IFJP investigation and recommended changes to EIB policy.

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