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January 20 verdict has the effect of legitimising routing of transactions through tax havens

The Supreme Court will take up on Tuesday the Union of India's petition seeking review of its January 20 judgment that the Income Tax Department did not have the jurisdiction to levy Rs. 11,000 crore as tax on the overseas deal between Vodafone International Holdings and Hutchison Group.

The hearing, by a Bench of Chief Justice S.H. Kapadia and Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar, assumes importance in view of the proposed retrospective amendment to the Income Tax Act announced by the Finance Minister in the Union budget. For, any such amendment is likely to have an impact on Vodafone.

In its review petition, the Finance Ministry, through its Secretary and the Assistant Director of Income Tax, said the judgment suffered from an error apparent on the face of the record and the court had failed to consider the case submitted by them at least on 15 aspects. The finding that the offshore transaction, which gave the Vodafone holding company a 67 per cent stake in Hutch-Essar, was a bona fide, structured FDI [foreign direct investment] in India was a patent error.

The case did not involve any inflow of monies into India as would be clear from the characterisation of the transaction as an offshore deal and the incontrovertible fact that no investment or inflow into the country took place, the petition said. The FDI policy was in no way under challenge or scrutiny in that case and could not have been so as the FDI and interpretation of taxation statutes operated in two different realms. Justifying the imposition of capital gains tax, the petition said it was imposed on account of relinquishment of an asset and this was done by way of a specific amendment in the law which could be traced to a Bombay High Court decision.

Pointing out that the court had relied on the Direct Tax Code Bills of 2009 and 2010 while allowing the appeals in favour of Vodafone, the Centre said there was no judicial precedent to count on pending legislation to interpret the existing legislation. Further, these codes were not even presented as Bills in Parliament but were only under public discussion.

The judgment would undermine the existing legislative and regulatory framework that required approvals from competent authorities in India even for transactions routed outside the country through tax havens, the petition said. Such monies held in tax havens had the effect of compromising the state's ability to manage its affairs in consonance with what was required from a constitutional perspective. The January 20 judgment had the effect of legitimising the routing of transactions through tax havens and preventing the Income Tax department from looking at the substance of the transaction, it said.

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SC to hear today Centre's crucial review plea in Vodafone case

TOM PULLAR-STRECKER

The Government should be chasing down internet fraudsters overseas, as they do with drug runners, not just relying on consumer education, according to an Australian expert.

Government estimates suggest Kiwis may lose close to $450million a year to internet scams, though the figures are hard to be sure of, and may be inflated.

Kicking off Fraud Awareness Week yesterday, Commerce Minister Craig Foss said the Consumer Affairs Ministry had "always believed education was the key" to combating scams, partly because many were run from overseas.

But Alistair MacGibbon, director of Canberra University's Centre for Internet Safety, told a conference organised by the ministry and Trade Me in Wellington that while education was critical, it was "a really hard slog".

"I believe that along with consumer education there are systemic issues that governments around the world need to deal with," he said.

"Being overseas shouldn't be stopping investigations. If anyone has ever investigated complex drug matters they will know that they go offshore. New Zealand and Australia and other countries have been pretty good at posting police to drug hotspots overseas.

"That is exactly what needs to be done when it comes to internet-based crime."

Ministry spokesman Alistair Stewart believed most scams went unreported but acknowledged its claim that Kiwis were losing $448m to scams annually was based on extrapolating international data and "may be inflated".

There have been suspicions security software companies have overstated the scale of losses to generate more demand for their products.

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Government urged to hunt offshore scammers

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Commission is widening its regulatory sweep to include "shadow" banking, heralding new controls over the sprawling and largely unchartered 46 trillion euro ($61 trillion) sector blamed for helping trigger the financial crisis.

The EU's executive launched a consultation with industry on Monday with a view to writing rules to control shadow banking, a term describing activity resembling banks' basic borrow-and-lend model, but often taking place beyond the watch of regulators.

It opens up a new front in the regulatory drive of Brussels, which some analysts believe has been slow to tackle the causes of a financial crisis that struck Europe roughly five years ago.

"What we do not want is for financial activities and entities to circumvent existing and foreseen rules, allowing new sources of risk to accumulate in the financial sector," said Michel Barnier, the EU official in charge of regulatory reform.

"That is why we need to better understand what shadow banking actually is and does, and what regulation and supervision may be appropriate."

Political leaders are aware of the potential problem that shadow banking presents and the Group of 20 top global economies have asked their task force, the Financial Stability Board (FSB), to come up with plans to regulate the sector.

That will give a lead to the European authorities in finalizing their plans.

The chairman of Britain's Financial Services Authority, Adair Turner, has called for radical plans to regulate shadow banking, saying last week that the system may be too complex for regulators to understand.

Hedge funds and private equity are often cited as examples of shadow banking. But the term can also take in investment funds and even cash-rich firms that lend government bonds to banks, and which in turn use them as security when taking credit from the European Central Bank.

Shadow banking can also refer to offshore vehicles such as those that banks used before the crisis for leverage, as well as money-market funds taking deposits from companies.

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EU considers new controls for shadow banking

NEW CASTLE, Pa., March 19, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Real Estate Contacts, Incorporated (OTCBB:REAC.OB - News) is proud to announce that its shares are now publicly quoted under the stock symbol REAC. RealEstateContacts.com provides a service that enables real estate professionals to capture, cultivate, and convert leads which cater to prospective home buyers and sellers. The Company's business is conducted solely within the internet and the online video arena, which includes our real estate search engine, social community and video real estate network. We match buyers, sellers, brokers and professionals anywhere in the world through our portal website. RealEstateContacts.com is a partner for real estate professionals to market their listings and promote their services. Our goal as a real estate portal is to send consumers to the listing broker or agents website where they can find out more information about the property and the listing agent.

Robert De Angelas President and CEO, of Real Estate Contacts comments, "Real Estate Contacts is very excited to begin trading and looks forward to the future with the company's revolutionary technology that could potentially be a game changer in several different industries."

About Real Estate Contacts Inc.

Real Estate Contacts, Inc. conducts an online real estate advertising and marketing real estate portal including a real estate video listings network that offers real estate professionals the opportunity to reach consumers interested in buying or selling property in their respective geographic area through the internet and video. With our current real estate search portal http://www.realestatecontacts.com and our national real estate video listings channel http://www.realestatevideochannels.com we will operate the most definitive online real estate search portal and real estate video channel in cities across the United States. e Contacts, Incorporated

Safe Harbor Statement

This press release may contain forward-looking statements covered within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements relate to, among other things, plans and timing for the introduction or enhancement of our services and products, statements about future market conditions, supply and demand conditions, and other expectations, intentions and plans contained in this press release that are not historical fact and involve risks and uncertainties. Our expectations regarding future events or revenues depend upon our ability to develop and supply products, which we may not produce today and that may need to meet defined specifications. When used in this press release, the words "plan," "expect," "believe," and similar expressions generally identify forward-looking statements. These statements reflect our current expectations. They are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, changes in technology and changes in pervasive markets.

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Real Estate Contacts Inc. Receives Approval to Trade Under Stock Symbol REAC

Apple says it is buying back $10 billion in stock and launching a dividend payment to spend just under half of its cash pile on shareholders in the next three years.

While Apple has avoided big acquisitions instead favoring buying smaller companies with admired technology, that other half of the pile could still go to making some pretty big acquisitions.

[More from WSJ.com: IPad Exposed]

Allow Deal Journal to imagine Tim Cook is viewing his situation similarly to Richard Pryor in Brewsters Millions. In this case Uncle Steve has left him a mountain of cash, and Tim has to spend it to make even more riches for shareholders and himself.

This is what Deal Journal sees him potentially shopping for if thats the case.

NetflixIf Apple is looking for a jolt to its entertainment business, it could find a good deal in Netflix and muscle movie studios the way it muscled music studios with iTunes. An with Apple launching into the television world, a source of streaming TV could be a big help.

Research in MotionA deal would create a behemoth in smartphone technology, so much so that Google an others would likely have a good argument for antitrust authorities to put a stop to it. But if the iPhones biggest weakness is corporate concerns about email and security, the patents RIM holds would be dear to Apple.

[More from WSJ.com: Mets Owners to Pay $162 Million to Madoff Trustee]

SamsungSee above, antitrust would be a serious headache and even Apples cash wouldnt be enough, but given that Samsung makes a lot of Apple parts. A family of iPhones on different budgets would have plenty of new demographic targets.

T-MobileMaybe Apple is content to let RIM wallow in its attempt to catch up, and would rather take to giving iPhone users the service for the device. Just like it built iTunes up to feed iPods and the App Store to sell to iPhones, Apple wants to control a users entire experience. Acquiring a cell network would do that to a new degree. (Sorry, Phil Falcone, even these money bags are unlikely to take a bet and bail you out of Lightsquared.)

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Apple Shopping Spree: What Could Tim Cook Buy