*
Then came the questions. Why? Why France? To politicians and commentators it was a savage terrorist attack, to O’Connelly it seemed like an explosion of built up rage against the society in which the assailants lived and the apathy of their parents and the community they had grown up in. Three of the terrorists were born in France of North African parents. Had they suffered the stigma of rejection? In any case the trademark of the young terrorists, born in the UK of Pakistanis parents, was there, those who had perpetrated the deadly terrorist attack on the London Underground in 2005.
Were these young men religious fanatics, perhaps, but it was more probable they had been drawn to extremist preachers and their mosques as a reaction to their marginalisation by the societies in which they lived. If so the battle would be long.
“The fault lies with us to a certain degree,” suggested Francis
“Oh!”
“Yes. Our friends George Bush and Tony Blair bear a certain responsibility for destabilising an already volatile region.”
“Maybe, but the World Trade Center came before all that,” O’Connelly reminded them.
WEALTH MANAGEMENT
“Our business is wealth management. That’s why we’ve set up INI Private Bank in Dublin, especially designed for the needs of our wealthy client, you know preserving and growing their assets,” Kennedy explained to O’Connelly. “With fiscal optimisation we can preserve wealth and make sure it flows smoothly from generation to the next through offshore holdings; avoiding heavy death duties.”
“Are those companies in the Caribbean,” O’Connelly asked. “I mean the offshore companies.”
“Not necessarily. You don’t have to go to the Caribbean to set up a shell company. There’s plenty of places you can set up a shell company. Here in Hong Kong, or even in the US.”
“The US?”
“Yes, Delaware or Nevada offer plenty of possibilities to set up new companies. Delaware alone has got one million registered companies and it’s easily done, no questions asked.”
It was a subject of interest to the writer, not only for his research, but also for his own finances.
“As a matter of fact you can set up a LLC, that’s a limited liability company in any state, without having to disclose who the beneficiary is. But, Delaware offers the most anonymous companies.”
O’Connelly had long used various foreign accounts and investment vehicles to protect his royalties from the taxman. His situation was complicated by his multiple residences, which gave his accountant a full time job diverting the flow from his different sources of revenue into safe long term investments.
Writers, as actors and other creators were never be sure of the loyalty of their fickle public.
“Remember, there’s nothing illegal about setting up a shell company, half of all traded American companies use Delaware as their legal home.”
Conveniently, men like Kennedy and O’Connelly used shell companies to buy property, anonymously if necessary, or own bank accounts and to shelter their different investments.
“The problem is,” said Pat with an innocent smile, “shell companies in far off places make it easy for people to hide assets, avoid taxes, or money from corruption. But why go to all that trouble when you can do all that in Ireland. There’s tons of ways you can minimise capital gains tax, corporation tax or income tax on the assets held in Irish funds.”
Cornucopia Page 115