Flags and Structures as Shields

“When shipowners choose flags, the degree of protection against intrusive tax officials is a criterion. Then so-called bearer’s shares, or bearer stocks, are good to have. The person who holds the share certificates in hand owns the company. And when the papers are in a safe deposit box in Switzerland or perhaps Monaco, it is not so easy to find out who actually has the keys to the safe deposit box.”

“But no control without loopholes. The Central Bank did indeed not scrutinize the daughter-daughter companies in Liberia. And then they were back to square one. The simplest way to bypass Norwegian tax rules was to make deals abroad, and then "skim" off a few million kroner to a bank account, for example on Jersey, owned by a company from Liberia, for example.”