From France24.com H/T Alan Poirier.
The trial of 12 people accused of involvement in a multi-billion euro carbon-trading fraud opened in Paris on Monday, in a case that has been described by French authorities as “the heist of a century”.
Shady deals, offshore accounts, money laundering… The trial has all the hallmarks of a crime thriller and comes nearly seven years after French authorities cracked down on a carbon-trading scheme that cost the European Union €5 billion – including €1.6 billion in France – according to Europol.
The case dates back to October 2008, around the same time the European Commission introduced phase two of its EU emissions trading system (EU ETS), which was designed to combat climate change by reducing greenhouse gases.
Despite the good intentions behind the EU ETS, it was an imperfect system that was easily exploited.
“The structure was poorly conceived from the start and had some real flaws,” Katheline Schubert, an environmental economics professor at the Sorbonne university in Paris, told FRANCE 24.
Investigators believe that a group of three men – Mardoché Mouly, Arnaud Mimran and Samy Souied – realised this, and devised a scheme to defraud billions of euros by purchasing emission allowances on the European market from abroad, using a complex network of shell companies and offshore accounts in Latvia, Cyprus and Hong Kong.
Because the allowances were purchased outside of Europe, they were not subject to the European Union’s 19.6 percent value-added tax (VAT). Front men acting as brokers then resold the allowances in Europe, taxes included. But instead of handing the VAT over to the authorities, they pocketed the cash to use in future trades. But the money needed to be laundered before it could be reinvested. This involved placing it in a bank in China, where it was then handed over to businesses or transformed into playing chips at casinos, among numerous other ploys.
Tallbloke's Talkshop 
Reblogged this on Utopia – you are standing in it!.
Reblogged this on UZA – people's courts, forums, & tribunals and commented:
Great find, thank you; in peace
“the heist of a century” – apart from the Paris climate agreement that is.
‘2 Degrees, $100 Billion: The World Climate Agreement, By The Numbers’
http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/12/12/459502597/2-degrees-100-billion-the-world-climate-agreement-by-the-numbers
Reblogged this on Climatism and commented:
Australia is about to enter campaign for national election later this year.
Two main choices – ALP and Lib/Nat coalition. Both leaders Sorten (ALP) and Turnbull (Lib/Nats) are captured by the CAGW scam and wish an ETS or other form of Carbon Tax scheme/scam, though they deny for political purposes, as the ‘Carbon Tax’ has proven to be election poison in the past. (e.g. Julia Gillard (ALP) “there will be no carbon tax under the Government I lead” – Lie)
“We learn from history that we learn nothing from history.”
George Bernard Shaw