DNB established companies in tax havens for Norwegian customers – OBI Online

In nearly ten years organized DNB in ​​Luxembourg shell companies in Seychelles for their customers, reveals Aftenposten. DNB regret practice.

DNB in ​​Luxembourg created and managed 36 companies in Seychelles registered on 45 Norwegian customers in the years 2006 to 2015, writes Aftenposten.

DNB regret practice and contests not the actual conditions newspaper reveals.

– to be associated with the type of business, is far, far beyond our tolerance, says Executive Vice president Tom Rathke, DNB private banking told Aftenposten.

– we should not have done. With today’s internal regulations would not happened, says Rune Bjerke.

– It is customer’s responsibility to report its own funds to the IRS. Nevertheless, we believe that we should not have contributed to establishing these companies. Not because customers have done something wrong, but because the structures could be misused to evade taxes, Bjerke says in a statement Sunday night.

Based on the information available, DNB has not broken any laws or regulations in this matter, claiming the bank.

According to Aftenposten’s information companies had bank accounts at DNB Luxembourg. Meanwhile leased bank into straw men from the Panama-based law firm Mossack Fonseca as directors. Thus, the real owners hidden. Yet these were organized in a way that made DNB customers had dominion over money in the companies.

Aftenposten has no basis for claiming that DNB or customers have broken laws in Norway, Luxembourg or the Seychelles.

– We should not have done this for Norwegian taxpayers. Not because customers have done something wrong, but because the construction could be used for concealing assets and income abroad. We take the criticism. We should not have done, says Rathke.

The information about DNB’s clients in tax havens emerges in internal documents from the law firm Mossack Fonseca as the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung has accessed. The documents have been shared with the Foundation The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and over 100 other media organizations. (© NTB)