Marius is a founder of Schwarzthal Tech, a Fintech start-up
providing disruptive KYC solutions empowered by Artificial Intelligence for
tackling financial crime by making it generally affordable. He has published 4
books, the book that interests the tax world the most is called VAT Fraud[1]. Marius
also starred in 4 TV documentaries about financial crime, and a movie Lords of Scam[2] about VAT fraud with CO2 emissions, on Netflix.
He is an
associate professor of finance with Dauphine University (FRA), and has a PhD in
mathematics from Paris Sorbonne University.
Co2 fraud – VAT fraud – tax fraud
Marius started his studies in tax with VAT fraud cases while
trading with CO2 emissions, then expanding his work to VAT fraud in general and
now – tax fraud and financial crime in general. People are creating nowadays sophisticated
networks with a purpose of hiding money, so his firm is helping anyone to
detect the networks, primary clients being banks and lawyers. Their approach is
KYN (know your network), not KYC. Despite all the AI capabilities by some of
the brightest minds in the profession it sounded like it will be impossible for
a long time to detect the criminal networks of those who proactively hide their
funds, like the war criminal Putin.
Solutions
We also discussed several measures how to make the world a
better place. One of them was related to inter-connection of data bases of the
tax authorities and between the public registers within the EU, to start with. Regarding
evaluation if a UBO registered as such or is just a nominee the controlling
authorities should evaluate if the person had capabilities to earn all the
wealth registered on his/her name. There was a Cyprus law firm officially controlling
most the Russian elite properties in London. So, compliance officers especially
in banks should better look at transactions within the company in order to
determine who the real (economic) UBO is.
How VAT fraudsters choose the country?
Several aspects are behind typology of VAT fraud. First, the
higher VAT rates the more the country attracts fraudsters. Second, the
business profile of the country impacts the fraud. For example, Germany makes a
lot of VAT refunds which makes it easier for the fraudsters to defraud
the refunds. Third, where the levels of corruption are higher it’s easier
to infiltrate into the tax authorities. Marius thinks that for sure bigger
companies are usual targets for the fraudsters, either without being aware of
it or by criminals infiltrating into those companies.
What’s wrong with the tax authorities?
The authorities normally go after the low-hanging fruit –
companies involved in the fraud not the fraudsters themselves. Marius thinks
the main problem is wrong KPIs the authorities measure. The authorities should
be passionate about fighting the crime, not so much focusing on reaching a pre-determined
number of fraud cases detected. The agencies should work more like NGOs – inspired
by a cause to fight the crime. It requires a change in culture, mentality. Only
then businesses will start trusting the agencies. They need to do the right
thing regardless of the immediate results!
Why the Lords of Scam movie on Netflix is not
the way how the fraudsters work?
People committing the fraud are decentralised and rational. They
calculate the risks and go for the crime where they are ready to take the risk,
by even who and how much would need to spend in prison, if caught. All the
facts happen quickly, within 2-3 months – they find and structure companies in
a dozen countries, find the accountants, open bank accounts, do the VAT
registrations, learn how the trading in the specific business area works. They
already have a network of people and companies they can trust. In the movie it
is more depicted around a certain bunch of people. Some of people do the fraud,
because there is no other option – this is their way of life.
We also discussed other topics like:
·
how a law firm can combine tax advice and IT new
possibilities;
·
the VAT within the EU
will get more centralised to fight the fraud, but trading on the bigger
marketplaces still remains a problem regarding the fraud.
Nav komentāru:
Ierakstīt komentāru