Belize one of many tax havens and diversified portfolios.

There are hundreds of tax havens all over the world. The goal of an international businessman is to establish companies in different tax havens, to make it difficult for predatory governments to demand more taxes than they should, as a harassment tactic. There is nothing more criminal that many Western industrialized societies, who habitually extort money from their home businesses in the name of permits, licenses and taxes. With over 200 countries in the world, it behooves any sensible businessman, to diversify his holdings, his income stream over different legal jurisdictions. Nobody wants to do criminal things, but sometimes greedy governments who are mismanaged financially, look to choke the life blood of the world economy, and tax havens like Belize are part of that legal type business maneuver, to diversify the assets. When investing, diversification is KING of survival in business. _____________________________________________________ QUINN'S SECRET EUR80MILLION CARIBBEAN HQ; BBC PROBE UNCOVERS HIS HIDDEN ASSETS The Mirror May 16, 2012 Wednesday AN investigation into Sean Quinn's empire tracked down the HQ of a company controlling more than EUR80million worth of assets belonging to Irish taxpayers. And shockingly, it revealed how Anglo Irish Bank has been locked out of properties it now owns on our behalf. Billionaire Quinn went bankrupt in January owing EUR2.8billion to Anglo. Bosses at the company hoped to scrape EUR500million for taxpayers by selling off Quinn Group's Click for Enhanced Coverage Linking Searchesglobal property portfolio. But weeks before Anglo - now the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation - took control of the group, obscure offshore companies laid claim to key properties. And a special BBC Spotlight investigation managed to track down the new secret home of Quinn's EUR80million property portfolio in Belize. The tiny country on the Caribbean coast of Central America - 5,000 miles from Ireland - is where the biggest slice of taxpayers' money is tied up. The explosive documentary also revealed: IBRC took control of a EUR60million shopping centre that Quinn once owned in Kiev, Ukraine, but the property agent it appointed has been locked out COPS armed with AK47s showed up the first time the property agent tried to get inside after the mall's dismissed management team called 999, and BEING locked out is robbing Irish taxpayers of EUR800,000 a month rent that is rightfully ours. The programme, which aired on BBC1 Northern Ireland last night, also broadcast evidence it uncovered in Sweden which appears to show Quinn was part of a secret boardroom coup which put him back in charge of the property empire weeks after he had been dismissed from the Quinn Group. Click for Enhanced Coverage Linking SearchesJournalist Jim Fitzpatrick was seen speaking to IBRC-appointed property agent Rostislav Levinzon outside the taxpayerowned shopping Mall in Ukraine. The BBC team didn't manage to get inside and security guards interrupted filming and told the production team to leave. Mr Levinzon revealed how he was chased by police armed with rifles when he tried to take charge of the centre. Mark Rachkevych, a journalist with the Kiev Post, told how the drama made the headlines. He revealed: "It was embarrassing for everybody because the management office is next to the bowling alley and this was afternoon time when a birthday for kids was taking place and mothers saw people with flak vests, helmets and AK47s come in, and they were shocked. "So this is bad for business, whoever is in charge of that place." Quinn is currently involved in a contempt of court case which claims his family purposely put multimillion-euro foreign property assets beyond the reach of the State-owned IBRC. Last June, Mr Justice Frank Clarke ordered the family to stop - but the bank alleges that Quinn, his son Sean Jnr and his nephew Peter Darragh Quinn continued. They deny the claims. But this global property portfolio is the only real chance we have of clawing back some of the EUR2.8billion Quinn owes the country. IBRC has secured properties in Ireland, the UK, the Czech Republic and Turkey. But it is struggling to regain control of properties in Russia, Ukraine and India. IBRC chair Alan Dukes said the Quinn family had left the bank with "no option" but to take court action. He told the BBC: "EUR2.8billion outstanding to a bank that is owned by the State is a matter of serious concern to the taxpayer. "I don't expect that we will recover all of that, but our job in the bank is to recover as much of it as we possibly can. "The bank has no option but to pursue this." *************************************************** BELIZE is a tiny country on the east coast of Central America, bordering Mexico. The population is roughly 310,000 and the official language is English. 40% of the population are living in poverty and the country is plagued by crime and drugs.