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Albania carried out 10 million euro transfers with "offshore" countries in five years

2023-03-13 09:49:01Biznes SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX

Albania carried out 10 million euro transfers with "offshore"

Since 2017, when the first data was reported, a total of 10.5 million euros worth of personal transfers have been made from Albania to offshore countries and vice versa.

The figures are reported in Eurostat's data system for personal transfers and are processed by Monitor.

Of these, 8.2 million euros are transfers that were sent to Albania and 2.3 million euros were sent from Albania to offshore countries.

The highest level was recorded in 2020, with 3.8 million incoming transfers and 0.5 million euro outgoing transfers.

In 2021, inward transfers were 1.3 million euros, the highest level since 2020, while remittances to financial centers were 0.7 million euros, which is the highest level since 2017, when the data is reported.

According to the global definition, “An offshore financial center (overseas), otherwise known as an OFC, is defined as a country or jurisdiction that makes financial services available to non-residents for the purpose of bypassing aspects of the non-resident's country or jurisdiction. These financial centers are generally used as locations for asset holding companies to conduct tax avoidance. Very often, they are used illegally for tax evasion".

Eurostat lists the following countries as offshore financial centers: "Andorra, Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, Aruba, Barbados, Bahrain, Bermuda, Bahamas, Belize, Cook Islands, Curaçao, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guernsey, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Isle of Man, Jersey, St Kitts and Nevis, Lebanon, Saint Lucia, Liechtenstein, Liberia, Marshall Islands, Montserrat, Mauritius, Nauru, Niue, Panama, Philippines, Seychelles, Singapore, Sint Maarten, Turks and Caicos Islands, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Virgin Islands (British), Virgin Islands (US), Vanuatu, Samoa".

Scheme how offshore countries are used to evade and pay bribes

Experts have affirmed for "Monitor" that transactions with so-called offshore countries are common, especially for large companies that win high value tenders and concessions and have no way to justify the expenses, on the one hand, and have to pay bribes. on the other hand.

To justify the increase in costs and bribe payments, the triangle importing country-offshore and the final destination (Albania) is used. For example, a product, which is actually bought in the importing country for 1000 euros/unit, is issued with an invoice to one of the offshore countries for 1500 euros/unit.

In this way, the cost of the product increased by 50%, while 500 euros are transferred offshore, which are tax-free and used to pay corruption. In this way, through the offshore triangle, the value of the enterprise increases, expenses are inflated and bribes are paid.

This scheme can also be used in construction, introducing shareholders through offshore countries, or in other sectors.

Eurostat actually only reports personal transfers made to and from offshore countries, but the increase in figures in recent years shows that this mechanism is increasingly being used. North Macedonia, for example, has zero personal transfers in and out of offshore countries, while they are used in Serbia and very little in Montenegro.


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