From: [transnationale.org]
To: john.armitage
Sent: 05/06/02 22:43
Subject: Newsletter, 5 June 2002

FILES > FINANCE > RATING AGENCIES - AUDIT
http://www.transnationale.org/anglais/dossiers/finance/agences_notation.
htm

Peregrine Notified by Andersen Not to Rely on Audits

Peregrine Systems Inc. said it was notified by Arthur Andersen LLP that
the business-software maker's financial reports for the first three
quarters of fiscal 2002 and audits for 2001 and 2000 shouldn't be relied
on.

The notification was a result of Peregrine's announcement yesterday of
its intent to restate results for most of the past three years
http://www.transnationale.org/anglais/forums/finance__agences_notation/s
howmessage.asp?messageID=14

FILES > FINANCE > DEREGULATION
http://www.transnationale.org/anglais/dossiers/finance/dereglementation.
htm

Indonesian planner slams IMF

Indonesia should sever its links with the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) unless the lending agency stops demanding policies that "endanger"
the nation, planning minister Kwik Kian Gie has said.

Mr Kwik, who is National Development Planning Minister and was chief
economics minister in the previous government, accused the IMF of
damaging and ignorant policies.

They no longer know anything and are seeking things which may endanger
Indonesia," he said at a news conference.

In particular, he objected to a requirement for Indonesia to repay bonds
issued to recapitalise the country's banking system, saying: "That will
kill us."

The IMF agreed to restore loans to Indonesia after Megawati Sukarnoputri
was installed as the country's president in July 2001 and promised a
change from the policies of her predecessor.

The two sides agreed on a list of targets to boost growth and curb
inflation.

Indonesia also pledged to press ahead with bank privatisations as part
of a sell-off of state assets to attract international investors and
streamline bankrupt companies.
http://www.transnationale.org/anglais/forums/finance__dereglementation/s
howmessage.asp?messageID=442


FILES > FINANCE > EMPLOYMENT
http://www.transnationale.org/anglais/dossiers/finance/emploi.htm

IBM 'quietly' layoffs nearly 5,000 employees

After two weeks of stealthy layoff notices in more than a dozen plants
around the United States, IBM Corp. has cut almost 5,000 jobs.

The company has issued no overarching public statement on the extent of
the layoffs, saying only that some plants are autonomously cutting their
work forces and consolidating operations.

Where IBM has been silent, a former employee at IBM's Endicott, N.Y.
plant has filled the gap, fielding calls and e-mail from employees
who've been sacked and piecing together a nationwide picture of the
layoffs.

"People are getting very upset that the company isn't being honest about
the extent and numbers of job cuts," said Lee Conrad, who now heads the
AllianceIBM, a division of the Communications Workers of America union
that is attempting to organize IBM employees. "We seem to be the only
ones that have the numbers and are giving them out."

Information from within the company, retrieved by Conrad and others,
points to 1,000 layoffs in IBM's Server Division, 700 in its Software
Group, 100 in its Global Financing unit, 360 at corporate headquarters,
300 in its Storage division and more than 2,000 in the company's largest
single unit, IBM Global Services.

IBM profile
http://www.transnationale.org/anglais/fiches/33.htm


BP axes another 800 UK jobs

BP, the oil giant that believes Gordon Brown's new North Sea tax will
cost it more than #120m a year, today revealed it is to slash another
800 UK jobs as part of its cost cutting drive.

The losses will be in addition to the 500 jobs BP said in March it would
axe and means its UK workforce will be sliced by 20% before the end of
the year.

BP said the 800 jobs cuts would all be made among its contracting staff,
who are based in Aberdeen and at various other locations, including
offshore operations, around Scotland.
http://www.transnationale.org/anglais/forums/finance__emploi/showmessage
.asp?messageID=446

BPAmoco
http://www.transnationale.org/anglais/fiches/109.htm


Barclays to Cut 1,000 Jobs at Consumer Banking Unit

Barclays Plc, Britain's third- largest bank, plans to shed about 1,000
consumer banking jobs, or 4 percent of the unit's staff, after profit
stagnated last year.

The reductions add to 1,800 job cuts announced in February, said David
Roberts, Barclays' head of customer banking, in an interview.

Barclays follows rivals, such as HSBC Holdings Plc, Deutsche Bank AG,
ABN Amro Holding NV and other European lenders, which are together
slashing more than 65,000 jobs. Banks are under pressure to reduce
expenses as stock markets slump and loan defaults increase, analysts
said.
http://www.transnationale.org/anglais/forums/finance__emploi/showmessage
.asp?messageID=445

Barclays
http://www.transnationale.org/anglais/fiches/-1807537581.htm


Nortel plans 3,500 more job cuts

Nortel Networks Corp. plans to cut 3,500 more jobs and "realign" its
long-haul optical network business to reflect a weak market that's not
expected to recover before late 2003, the company said today.

"Our focus is to bring all of our business units into a profitable
position at the current market levels," chief executive officer Frank
Dunn said in a statement.
http://www.transnationale.org/anglais/forums/finance__emploi/showmessage
.asp?messageID=444

Nortel Networks
http://www.transnationale.org/anglais/fiches/535157317.htm

FILES > FINANCE > TAXES - SUBSIDIES
http://www.transnationale.org/anglais/dossiers/finance/impots.htm

Think Globally, Skip Tax Locally

Getting big accounting firms to change their willful ways is like trying
to get teenagers to clean up their act in return for the keys to the
family car. They ll promise anything but will revert to form at every
opportunity. Just look at the much-ballyhooed proposals to reform
accounting by separating auditing business from consulting. That s
designed to remove temptation for firms to go easy on auditing clients
in hope of attracting lucrative consulting work.

PRICEWATERHOUSECOOPERS, ONE OF the Final Four accounting firms, is doing
just such a split.

The new PwC Consulting will minimize maybe even totally avoid U.S.
income taxes by swapping national identities at will. And get this. Even
as the firm is adopting foreign nationalities of convenience, it has
registered with the American government as a lobbyist on its own behalf
to hustle consulting contracts with the Office of Homeland Security.
You ve got to love it. PwC Consulting doesn t want to pay taxes to Uncle
Sam, but it s sure eager to take our tax money to help protect us from
evildoers.

To be fair, PwC Consulting isn t any more tacky than its rival
Accenture, the former Andersen Consulting, which is also based in
Bermuda. Among its contracts: running the Internal Revenue Service Web
site. We should probably be grateful the IRS site doesn t have a
Bermudan tax-avoidance link.

PwC s setup is undoubtedly legal. But is it right? When the United
States is at war and President Bush is invoking patriotism, is it right
to set up in Bermuda for tax purposes while keeping your headquarters in
the United States and benefiting from a society you ve decided you don t
want to pay taxes for?

PwC Consulting will be based in the United States, where it does more
than half its business, and its stock will trade on the New York Stock
Exchange. It will look like a U.S. corporation, but will actually be a
Luxembourg corporation owned by a Bermuda corporation. Now, watch. Part
of this game involves using tax treaties that the United States has
negotiated with various countries. Under these deals, the countries
provide favorable treatment to each other s taxpayers. So, to give you
an example, PwC Consulting will be American when it comes to paying
Luxembourgian taxes, but will be Luxembourgian (or whatever nationality
works best) when it comes to paying U.S. taxes.

Related companies profile
http://www.transnationale.org/anglais/forums/finance__impots/showmessage
.asp?messageID=378


Tax loopholes on homes benefit the rich and cost UK millions
How the wealthy save a fortune by use of offshore trusts

The wealthy individuals who appear to be enjoying the country's choicest
property virtually tax-free, thanks to their exploitation of legal
loopholes include a number of Labour party donors, as well as the former
Tory prime minister Margaret Thatcher, an influential Saudi prince and
Mohamed Al Fayed, the controversial owner of Harrods and Fulham football
club.

Whether they possess luxury penthouses in Mayfair or mansions in the
Cotswolds, many of their expensive homes are registered as belonging to
offshore trusts with concealed beneficiaries.
http://www.transnationale.org/anglais/forums/finance__impots/showmessage
.asp?messageID=377


FILES > FINANCE > OFFSHORE CENTERS - TAX HAVEN
http://www.transnationale.org/anglais/dossiers/finance/paradis.htm

Angola's missing billions

BP's accounts will in future be scrutinised with more care than usual
because they could alter the fortunes of a country. Last year, BP
announced it would publish annually the amount it paid to the Angolan
government for oil it extracted from Angolan waters. This seemingly
innocuous statement produced an extraordinary response from Sonangol,
the Angolan state oil company, which sent BP a letter full of veiled
threats about what might happen if it published the information.

What, one might ask, do they have to hide? Well, last year, one third of
Angola's state income - $1bn - appears to have gone missing. Some 87% of
state income is from oil. No one knows where the money has gone because
of the government's and Sonangol's secretiveness. Oil companies, before
BP's brave step, went along with it. The losers are the people, who are
kept in ignorance of how much is being made from their oil and what it
is spent on.

This month, Midecins sans Frontihres, the international relief
organisation, warned that a catastrophe was developing in Angola as
thousands of people living in isolation for years without sufficient
food and shelter were now able to seek assistance. An average of 480
Angolan children die each day from disease and starvation in this oil
and diamond-rich country.
http://www.transnationale.org/anglais/forums/finance__paradis/showmessag
e.asp?messageID=436


84 company profiles updated this week:

Company
ANA, Bahlsen GmbH, Barclays Plc, China Airlines, EPAL, Euralys, Eva
Airways, Galp, Marengo (famille), Miller Brewing, Panorama (famille),
Portucel SGPS, SAC groupe, South African Breweries plc., TAP, UGC,

Brand
Al Fayed Mohamed, Anam Group, Anam Semiconductors, Anaversa, Anaya, BIL
(Banque Internationale du Luxembourg), Comsat Corp, Conoco, Edeka
Zentrale AG, Eram, Focsa Urbano Portugal, Gulf International Bank,
Hannover Re, Legrand, Natexis, Petrogal (Petrsleos de Portugal) SA,
Sacagica, Socopa SA, Storebrand ASA, Textiles Vertrauen, Wal-Mart
Stores,

Finance
Den Norske Bank, Kenwood Corp.,

Social
Acterna Corp, BPAmoco (British Petroleum Amoco PLC), Deutsche Telekom
AG, IBM (International Business Machines), Nortel Networks, PPR
(Pinault-Printemps-La Redoute), Valeo SA,

Shareholder
Associis (Cooperative), Banco Bisel, Cridit Agricole, Etat, Frere, Baron
Albert, Taittinger (famille), Taittinger S.A.,

Subsidiary
Banco de Entre Rios, Banco Suquia, Commercial Bank of Greece, Fortum
Power & Heat Oyj, Sociiti du Louvre,

 Management
Alstom, AMD (Advanced Micro Devices), Deutsche Bank AG,
PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Sociiti Ginirale, Unicredito Italiano,

Human Rights
Bank Leumi le-Israel, Banque Rothschild,

Production
Accor, Alcatel SA, BNP Paribas, Castel Groupe, CMA-CGM, GDF (Gaz de
France EPIC), Linde AG, Peugeot SA, Renault SA, Saur, Schneider Electric
SA, Sonatrach, Thales (ex-Thomson-CSF), Vivendi Environnement
http://www.transnationale.org/anglais/etn.htm#update

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