The book, though, is not solely Swiss-centered.
The offspring and echoes of Switzerland stretch far and wide, among cities and
countries trying to grab their own slices of the offshore pie. In Singapore, we
see a nation-state built on the back of its own forms of financial chicanery, building
out a pro-secrecy edifice that is somehow even stronger than Geneva’s. In the
process, we watch Singapore transform into a bolt-hole through which much of
the world’s illicit wealth slips. Singapore has pioneered secrecy surrounding
so-called “freeports,” which allow anyone, from anywhere, to hide anything in
Singapore from any prying eyes. Art, gold, wine—it doesn’t matter. All of it is
kept secret, and kept safe. “When you go to a bank and rent a safe, nobody
knows what goes in,” said one Singaporean businessman. “It’s the same thing
here.… There’s no value, no ownership, no inventory list—all details are
confidential. We offer more confidentiality than Geneva.”
Jumping over to Dubai, we see a country rapidly
transforming into the go-to haven for sanctions evasion and illicit wealth.
Starting in 2004, Emirati authorities and Western advisers pioneered a new type
of court, in which the judges have no connections to local laws or even local
jurisdictions but can “beam in” under whatever auspices, and for whatever
reasons, they need. (It “no longer makes much sense to speak of only a law of
the land: the two have, in the modern parlance, consciously uncoupled,”
Abrahamian writes of one Dubai-based court. “The law no longer has a particular
connection to the place it happens to govern; it is in Dubai, but not of
Dubai.”) Rather than produce transparent rulings, such a court
provides a legal imprimatur for any and all who need it, wherever they may be. It’s
a model that has since been replicated around the world, from Qatar to
Kazakhstan to Kosovo, prioritizing the needs of the extremely wealthy. All of
it has created, in effect, a series of “offshore courts of law,” available only
to the deep-pocketed figures and firms already taking advantage of other
offshore services elsewhere.
Liberia does not market itself with the patina
of luxury or high finance associated with Switzerland and Dubai, but it’s an essential
stop in Abrahamian’s tour of the hidden globe. A country that has endured
devastating civil wars in its recent history, Liberia also happens to provide global
oceanic shippers with so-called “flags of convenience.” Liberia’s shipping
registry allows any ship to fly the Liberian flag, for a small cost, without
providing even the bare minimum in terms of regulations or oversight. Any ship
can hide behind the flag for whatever reason. Rather than carrying an American
flag—and being subject to American laws, American regulations, and American
environmental and labor protection—these ships are suddenly attached to a
country that doesn’t have any similar enforcements. It’s a small price, and a
small slice of Liberian sovereignty, in return for ample secrecy and cover for
as many environmental, labor, and financial abuses as are needed.
