Round Two of my hoedown with the nasty CBC people as they have fun teasing the Taxman and equally evil Prime Ministers

 http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/paradise-papers-tax-gap-1.4384532

CBC Investigates

CRA not tracking billions in potential taxes lost each year

The U.S. and many other countries have been calculating their 'tax gap' for years

By Dave Seglins, Rachel Houlihan, Valérie Ouellet, CBC News  Posted: Nov 07, 2017 5:00 AM ET

Many countries track and estimate how much potential tax revenue they fail to collect each year. Canada isn't one of them. (Wael Khalill alfu/Shutterstock)

 

1106 Comments 


 
Algernon Chalfont

The CRA does not care if the mega-wealthy evade taxes as long as they have us working and middle classes to squeeze every possible nickel out of. All politicians and political parties are in the pay and pockets of these wealthy elites. Look at how well financially all our major politicians do after leaving office. All our former recent PMs are fabulously wealthy. Do you really wonder why?

David Raymond Amos

@Algernon Chalfont If you and other folks seek a little enlightenment Google the following words verbatim

Revenue Minister Dianne Lebouthillier David Raymond Amos

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/paradise-papers-leak-jean-chretien-madagascar-oil-1.4388740

CBC Investigates

Ex-PM Chrétien lobbied for African oil company he didn't know was based in tax haven, he says

Chrétien also denies getting 100,000 stock options Paradise Papers show were recorded in his name

By Zach Dubinsky, CBC News Posted: Nov 06, 2017 12:44 PM ET



1983 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.



Lonnie Donnigan
And Harper isn't on the list. Fancy that. Mostly all a bunch of ex Liberal PMs except for one. And the sitting one has his chief fundraiser on it.

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David Raymond Amos

@Blanche Cote I wonder if Prime Minister Justin Trudeau anyone else recalls why I sued Her Majesty the Queen while I was running in the election of the 42nd Parliament?

Check the records for yourself 

Federal Court File # T-1557-15

http://cas-cdc-www02.cas-satj.gc.ca/IndexingQueries/infp_RE_info_e.php?court_no=T-1557-15&select_court=T

Fredericton 14-DEC-2015 BEFORE The Honourable Mr. Justice Bell Language: E Before the Court: Motion Doc. No. 8 on behalf of Plaintiff Result of Hearing: The presiding Judge recused himself on 14-DEC-2015 sitting

A decision I received from the Federal Court of Appeal File # A- 48-16 on All Hallows Eve bought me the ticket to the Supreme Court.

http://cas-cdc-www02.cas-satj.gc.ca/IndexingQueries/infp_RE_info_e.php?court_no=A-48-16&select_court=All

This matter comes on for hearing on 24-MAY-2017 at Fredericton before The Honourable Mr. Justice Webb The Honourable Mr. Justice Near The Honourable Madam Justice Gleason Appearances: David Raymond Amos (self-litigant) for the appellant Jan Jensen for the respondent

Judgment dated 30-OCT-2017 The Court's decision is with regard to Appeal Result: dismissed The Court's decision is with regard to Cross-appeal Result: granted Filed on 30-OCT-2017 entered in J. & O. Book, volume 300 page(s) 440 - 440 (Final decision)

The hearing on May 24th, 2017

https://archive.org/details/May24thHoedown

David Raymond Amos

@David Raymond Amos Perhaps I should inform the site administers who are blocking my words right now that I have duly informed your Boss Hubert Lacroix and the RCMP today of the malice that you sneaky people have been practicing against me for way past too long.

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David Raymond Amos

@David Raymond Amos Here is a little proof of what I said above is true

---------- Original message ----------
From: "MinFinance / FinanceMin (FIN)" fin.minfinance-financemin.fin@canada.ca
Date: Tue, 7 Nov 2017 16:59:37 +0000
Subject: RE: More news about the Queen the CRA. the CBC and many webpages saved in Iceland's doman and on external Hard Drives and CDs as well
To: David Amos motomaniac333@gmail.com

The Department of Finance acknowledges receipt of your electronic correspondence. Please be assured that we appreciate receiving your comments.

Le ministère des Finances accuse réception de votre correspondance électronique. Soyez assuré(e) que nous apprécions recevoir vos commentaires.

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David Raymond Amos

@Lonnie Donnigan Survey Says CBC blocked about half of my comments in this particular article

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David Raymond Amos
@Lonnie Donnigan Harper is still in short pants he does not have enough money yet to lay with the big boys but it will come not that he scored a job with the Dentons Law Firm.

  

John Myro

Say it isn't so JT's good pal Bono is on the list

David Raymond Amos

@John Myro Bono is Paul Martin's old pal too

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David Raymond Amos 

@John Myro Never forget what CBC was saying about Bono and the Taxman many moons ago

Any Canadians see Rex Murphy's commentary tonight on Bono on The National?

Rex Murphy seems to have an obsession with Bono. This time the usual stuff about Bono being a hypocrite because he took part of the U2 business empire out of Ireland to pay less taxes. His argument being that Bono is lecturing the rest of the world to send their tax dollars to Africa, while he avoids paying tax, himself. I suppose, then, Mr. Murphy would rather Bono not do the important work he's doing to help Africa out than be a hyprocrite? How ridiculous is that? Hypocrite or no hypocrite, at least he's doing something no other person is doing right now in terms of the scope and leverage he is attaining in his mission to help Africa.

Anyway, Rex Murphy basically ended with the story of Madonna adopting an African baby, and how Bono should adopt Madonna, since "the two deserve each other" or some such nonsense. The transcript of Rex Murphy's commentary isn't up yet, but you can find the entire video of The National with Peter Mansbridge on their website:

http://www.cbc.ca/national/

Rex Murphy's commentary is found near the end if I remember. They ask for viewer feedback, so feel free to write them your comments!

I found a very well written and rather funny article that another journalist wrote about Rex Murphy's fascination with slamming Bono at this site:


 
Lonnie Donnigan

I bet the PMO turned on the answering machines this morning and left for lunch early. Ducked out in the back to avoid the press.

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David Raymond Amos

@Lonnie Donnigan FYI last week I was talking too two well known journalists within the press gallery in Ottawa (One worked for CBC and both of them knew me) I asked the very busy fellas a simple question and both had the same response. I asked if they read the comment sections of their articles. They said they could not be bothered (Who cares about what the little people think when even the media does not?)


Anyway I just laughed and told them the snobby dudes they really should because I was talking about them and blogging about it as well.

Perhaps you should read all my comments in this article They have already been blogged particularly the ones that were blocked by CBC

David Raymond Amos

@Lonnie Donnigan Clever reporters call the Privy Council Office that is where the real power resides

 
Serge FL Ayot

This is part of Trudeau's Legacy don't forget!

David Raymond Amos

@Serge FL Ayot CBC wants to insure Trudeau The Younger's legacy.

The CBC has had me buried under a Polar Icecap since 2002 but its melting because of all the methane being spewed by politicians in Washington Ottawa and the EU etc

No Joke See if you can find me mentioned in the last election or four others before that

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/fundy-royal-riding-profile-1.3274276

Fundy Royal campaign targets middle class with focus on jobs
Fundy Royal voters have elected Conservatives all but 1 time in 28 elections over 101 years

CBC News Posted: Oct 17, 2015 6:00 AM AT

David Raymond Amos

@Serge FL Ayot Yet the most watched political debate aired on Rogers TV during the election of Prime Minister Trudeau the Younger was mine

Fundy Royal, New Brunswick Debate – Federal Elections 2015 - The Local Campaign, Rogers TV
5,186 views
Rogers tv
Published on Oct 1, 2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cFOKT6TlSE

  
Glen Acanthus

The liberals favorite words ..."I didn't know".....

 

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David Raymond Amos

@Glen Acanthus I do know that I have an email from Diane Lebouthillier, Minister of National Revenue that finally affirmed my reasoning long ago

---------- Original message ----------
From: "Min.Mail / Courrier.Min (CRA/ARC)"
Date: Wed, 24 May 2017 13:10:52 +0000
Subject: Your various correspondence about abusive tax schemes - 2017-02631
To: David Raymond Amos

Dear Mr. Amos:

Thank you for your various correspondence about abusive tax schemes, and for your understanding regarding the delay of this response.

"On the offshore front, the CRA continues to develop tools to improve its focus on high‑risk taxpayers. It is also considering changes to its Voluntary Disclosures Program following the first set of program recommendations received from an independent Offshore Compliance Advisory Committee. In addition, the CRA is leading international projects to address the base erosion and profit shifting initiative of the G20 and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, and is collaborating with treaty partners to address the Panama Papers leaks."

"The CRA will assess penalties against promoters and other representatives who make false statements involving illegal tax schemes. The promotion of tax schemes to defraud the government can lead to criminal investigations, fingerprinting, criminal prosecution, court fines, and jail time."

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David Raymond Amos

@Peter Boone One of my heroes Louis Riel wrote in his diary not long before the RCMP hung him that the French would win back Canada without firing a shot. I quoted those words of Riel to the French Lt Governor of New Brunswick in a cover letter of mine in 2004 and the Governor General affirmed the receipt thereof. Methinks Riel was a true prophet. What say you?

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2017/09/23/rcmp-to-return-items-that-belonged-to-louis-riels-to-mtis-people.html

RCMP to return items that belonged to Louis Riel to Métis people

Recently a a Judge and a Crown Counsel whom I an arguing in Federal Court and a former Assistant Attorney General of New Brunswick inserted into the public record a quote of my words from a letter I had sent to Adrienne Clarkson, Jean Chretien and Brian Mulroney in 2004. Proof of all of what I just wrote can be found in the Public Record in 3 locations and hopefully will be allowed to be argued before the Supreme Court someday.

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David Raymond Amos

@David Raymond Amos I know for a fact my last two comment scared the Hell out of CBC. Why else would they block them?

 
Dwight Williams

This has become so normal that people don't even think about it anymore, they just do it.

These entitled people are just fine with one set of rules for them and another for you and me. Any psychologist who had looked at the question will tell you that.

The psychology of power.

David Raymond Amos

@Dwight Williams Meanwhile the CRA hire KPMG people and, more importantly, KPMG hire 'ex' CRA people. Go Figure why I am suing the Crown

 
Prattly Ponsarello

What's he doing lobbying for an African oil company in the first place?

 

Fred Rickert

@Prattly Ponsarello

The article states he was working on behalf of his employer, a law firm. I don't see any issue with that.

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David Raymond Amos

@Prattly Ponsarello I would lay odds that the sneaky old lawyer Chretien of Dentons (Same law firm Harper is with) knows that I called the CBC reporter named Zach as soon as the first story about the latest round of CRA nonsense was posted on this website overseen by the Crown.
First thing in the morning yesterday I called four offices of the Appleby Law Firm and stuck my hand out to them (I contacted Bermuda first and left a message for Ms Marsh) Not one of the lawyers called back just like the dudes from Panama never did. Surprised? Not I.

More importantly I did have a long and decent conversation with a very nice lady who works for Sueddeutsche Zeitung the German newspaper that apparently broke this story. She promised to try hard to have her people call me back. It been over 24 hours Whereas I crossed paths with CBC and CTV in 2002 and CBC's evil buddies in Washington bigtime in 2004 before I ran for a seat in Parliament the first time, should I waste my precious time holding my breath waiting for unethical German journalists to return my call or just sue the Queen again?

Survey Says?

 

David Raymond Amos

@Fred Rickert Need I say I sue lawyers and I see lots wrong with that.

BTW Chretien now works with the Dentons Law Firm and so does Harper Go Figure.

 
Lonnie Donnigan

Another Liberal who promised to get rid of the GST and then said it was an act of God that he couldn't. Remind you of someone? The guy with nice hair who is telling us to pay our fair share while his friends dodge taxes?

Bryan Cassidy

@Lonnie Donnigan
Watch your words,Govern General may be listening. I am surprised CBC let you use the word God.

David Raymond Amos 

 @Lonnie Donnigan Just in case you didn't know we report to Yankees

HER MAJESTY THE QUEEN (Crown) is Elizabeth II, the Queen of England, the Protector of the Faith of the Church of England, the Head of State of Canada and the Chief Executive Officer of Canada which files reports with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The Canadian 2002 Annual Report FORM 18-K filed with the SEC explained the Crown as follows:

“The executive power of the federal Government is vested in the Queen, represented by the Governor General, whose powers are exercised on the advice of the federal Cabinet, which is responsible to the House of Commons. The legislative branch at the federal level, Parliament, consists of the Crown, the Senate and the House of Commons.”

“The executive power in each province is vested in the Lieutenant Governor, appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the federal Cabinet. The Lieutenant Governor’s powers are exercised on the advice of the provincial cabinet, which is responsible to the legislative assembly. Each provincial legislature is composed of a Lieutenant Governor and a legislative assembly made up of members elected for a period of five years.”

 
Rick Connoly

Yes Cretien and the Shawinigan handshake, a real mover and shaker!

Neel Kamal

“Justin recently added me on [Facebook]. I accepted hence we went to school together, and any time I saw him on my timeline he was sharing stuff about guns and being atheist,” she said. “He was pretty negative. The last post I remember was of a rifle.”
- Madam Payette

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David Raymond Amos

@Rick Connoly You would to read the letter I sent to Adrienne Clarkson, Jean Chretien and Brian Mulroney in 2004 however CBC would block it in a heartbeat.

Lets stress test the questionable ethics of the Crown Corp website administrator today and see it they will even allow me to post a letter from the the Governor General to me in response to the aforementioned communications of a whistle-blower against the Taxman.

Methinks CBC will block this comment. Survey Says?

“September 11th, 2004
Dear Mr. Amos,

On behalf of Her Excellency the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson, I acknowledge receipt of two sets of documents and CD regarding corruption, one received from you directly, and the other forwarded to us by the Office of the Lieutenant Governor of New Brunswick.

I regret to inform you that the Governor General cannot intervene in matters that are the responsibility of elected officials and courts of Justice of Canada. You already contacted the various provincial authorities regarding your concerns, and these were the appropriate steps to take.

Yours sincerely.
Renee Blanchet
Office of the Secretary
to the Governor General”

David Raymond Amos

@Neel Kamal I first cross paths with Trudeau just before he got a seat in Parliament His people we naty to me then and they never got any nicer since. In fact 3 years ago Katie invited me to sue her.

David Raymond Amos

@David Raymond Amos I see that CBC failed the survey on their ethics as I expected N'esy Pas?

Nash Lagutin

hard to believe him. he gave us trudeau.

David Raymond Amos @Nash Lagutin Prime Minister Trudeau "The Younger" and his minions will need a lot of luck trying to convince anyone that his party and the CRA have any semblance of integrity after the pounding the press has been giving them lately

Hell as far as the CRA goes I am still trying to report to them that a man has been dead for quite some time and that they are being ripped off some of their tax money. The noname nomind CRA and Service Canada employees I do manage to talk to quite simply don't care.

CBC Investigates

CRA not tracking billions in potential taxes lost each year

The U.S. and many other countries have been calculating their 'tax gap' for years

By Dave Seglins, Rachel Houlihan, Valérie Ouellet, CBC News  Posted: Nov 07, 2017 5:00 AM ET

Many countries track and estimate how much potential tax revenue they fail to collect each year. Canada isn't one of them. (Wael Khalill alfu/Shutterstock) 

It's no secret that many wealthy Canadians are squirrelling away fortunes offshore to avoid — or even evade — taxes.

What is secret is just how much money it's costing fellow Canadians and the national treasury each year.

That's because unlike many other countries, Canada fails to disclose or even track the full size of its "tax gap" — the difference between the government's potential tax revenue and what it actually manages to collect.

The U.S. has been tracking and publicly reporting its tax gap for more than 50 years. And now so do more than a dozen other Western countries, including the U.K., France, Germany, Australia, Sweden, Portugal, Mexico, Norway and Denmark.

The Canada Revenue Agency isn't just keeping data from the prying eyes of journalists.

• Find out where some of Canada's lost tax revenue is going in the Paradise Papers

The agency won't share what it does know with parliamentarians either.

"It's shameful," said Senator Percy Downe of P.E.I. "The Canada Revenue Agency is the most incompetent department ... in the government of Canada."

Downe spoke to CBC News and the Toronto Star, partners in the Paradise Papers collaboration with the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists, which has shed light on the activities of thousands of wealthy individuals and corporations around the globe who use offshore havens to shield money from tax collectors.

Gap campaign

For five years, Downe has been campaigning to get the CRA to release raw data on just how much potential revenue slips through tax collectors' hands due to legal tax avoidance and outright evasion.

"We don't know — is it $40 billion, $6 billion?" said Downe, pointing to a 2017 Conference Board of Canada report that concludes the country's tax gap could be as big as $47 billion a year.

Senator Percy Downe of P.E.I. wants the Canada Revenue Agency to track the country's annual tax gap. (CBC)

Downe says knowing the size of the tax gap is important for two reasons. The first is a matter of principle: Canadians need to feel as though they're participating in a system where everybody is contributing their fair share. The second reason is practical: billions of extra dollars could be put to good use.

"There's lots of things the government could be doing … retiring debt, lower taxes, fund new programs," he said. "It goes on and on."

In 2012, Downe recruited an important ally in his fight: Parliamentary Budget Officer Kevin Page, the watchdog of the country's finances.

• Even the Queen held investments offshore 
• Massive tax haven data leak reveals financial secets of world's wealthy

Page asked the CRA for raw data so he could conduct an independent calculation on behalf of Parliament to estimate how much in offshore, GST and income taxes the CRA fails to collect each year.

The request prompted a bizarre, protracted struggle with the federal tax agency.

CRA Commissioner Andrew Treusch wrote to Page in March 2013 to question the merits of his request.

"As you know, the CRA does not generate information or data on the tax gap, and there is much debate about the precision, accuracy and utility of any methodology to calculate a tax gap," Treusch wrote
.

• READ | CRA Commissioner Andrew Treusch's letter about the tax gap

In February 2014, the agency objected to the request over concerns about sharing private data of Canadian taxpayers. Jean-Denis Fréchette, the new parliamentary budget officer, pledged to abide by strict privacy agreements and even offered to seek the blessing of the Federal Court to ensure it was all legal.

But by August 2014, the CRA argued it would only turn over some limited data and demanded the PBO pay $141,000 to process the request.

The two sides have yet to reach an agreement on the need to systematically track Canada's tax losses.
"We still don't have a global tax gap number," Fréchette told CBC News.

He acknowledges calculating Canada's tax gap would require extensive resources — especially to review and calculate Canadians' offshore holdings. But he says it's an essential measure for the public and elected officials to evaluate the fairness of the tax system and the health of the country's finances.

"Collecting the money is as important as spending the money, or maybe even more important," Fréchette said.

What to do with $6B?

Unofficial estimates of Canada's tax gap vary wildly.

The portion lost to legal offshore tax avoidance, as well as tax evasion, is believed to be at least $6 billion a year, according to the most conservative estimates.

So, what could the government do with an extra $6 billion?

"It's a heck of a lot of money," said Judy Wasylycia-Leis, a former NDP MP. "That might be enough to repair our crumbling infrastructure and sewage plants in Winnipeg, and to invest in a modern transportation system."

Wasylycia-Leis is among those calling on Ottawa to not simply study the tax gap, but to publish the findings and hold the CRA's feet to the fire for failing to collect billions every year.

"With the kind of money we've lost because of offshore havens, we could build great cities."

CRA takes small steps

National Revenue Minister Diane Lebouthillier and the CRA declined CBC's requests for an interview, but in a statement, the agency said it has "begun work" to study the tax gap issue more closely.

After the revelations from last year's Panama Papers leaks and scandals involving KPMG's Isle of Man tax schemes, Lebouthillier pledged in January to take a much closer look at aggressive offshore tax avoidance and launch a "comprehensive study" of how Canada might calculate its overall tax gap.

• READ | CRA's full statement

The CRA has also begun releasing some snapshots of its past tax revenue losses, including its failure to collect $4.9 billion in GST/HST from businesses and $8.9 billion in domestic income tax from individuals back in 2014.

But the agency has yet to determine how much potential tax revenue is lost because of offshore tax havens — be it through outright tax evasion or through aggressive, yet legal, offshore planning.

The government says it is instead focusing on enforcement and has invested nearly $1 billion over the past two years to step up enforcement against offshore tax cheats and promoters. The CRA credits the previous Panama Papers leak with prompting 123 fresh audits and several criminal investigations.

Sen. Downe says while the CRA does a good job cracking down on domestic tax evasion, including posting the names of convicted cheats on its website, the agency does "a terrible job" scrutinizing and policing Canadians' offshore activities.

"Why is that, and why is the gap not being measured as a tool to assess how big the problem is?"

 

 

• Trudeau's chief fundraiser linked to Cayman tax scheme​
• Billionaires' law firm led 'Kill Bill' campaign to block offshore tax law
• More than 3,000 Canadians named in Paradise Papers
• CBC's full coverage of the Paradise Papers leak

 

 

Ex-PM Chrétien lobbied for African oil company he didn't know was based in tax haven, he says

Chrétien also denies getting 100,000 stock options Paradise Papers show were recorded in his name

By Zach Dubinsky, CBC News Posted: Nov 06, 2017 12:44 PM ET

Alex Archila, left, at the time the CEO of Bermuda-based Madagascar Oil, sought the help of former Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien, centre, to facilitate a meeting with Madagascar's then-president, Marc Ravalomanana, right. (BHP/Getty/Reuters) 

Former Canadian prime minister Jean Chrétien lobbied for an East African oil venture whose business involved money flowing to tax havens, a notorious Australian fraudster and the lure of billions of barrels of crude, according to the latest major leak of offshore financial documents.

But in a twist befitting the often murky world of tax havens, Chrétien says he thought the company was based in Houston and never knew it was actually incorporated in Bermuda.

He also vehemently denies receiving 100,000 stock options mysteriously recorded on the company's books in his name.

Chrétien is among the most prominent Canadian names in the Paradise Papers leak made public Sunday, a vast trove of records obtained by a German newspaper and shared with media partners via the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ).

That's because in 2007, he did work for a company called Madagascar Oil, which hoped to pump ultra-heavy crude from some of the island country's remote but potentially massive oil fields.

Madagascar Oil is aiming to extract large quantities of heavy crude at its facility in western Madagascar. (Rijasolo/AFP/Getty)

The company had hit a snag and needed to smooth things over with the Madagascar government, so it brought in the former Canadian PM — with his Rolodex of world leaders — through Heenan Blaikie, the law firm he worked for at the time.

Chrétien was asked to facilitate a meeting between the company's CEO and the president of Madagascar, and he came through at a summit of African leaders.

"There was a meeting of African heads of state … and it was a chance to meet with the president," Chrétien said in a phone interview with CBC News last month, referring to Madagascar's then-leader, Marc Ravalomanana.

"It wasn't a long meeting. We sat down, and [Madagascar Oil's CEO] talked about what he wanted to talk about."

'Not here to scrutinize'

Chrétien said he understood the company was from Texas, with a chief executive who had worked in the Canadian oil sector.

Madagascar Oil's headquarters was indeed in Houston and its CEO had been president of Chevron Canada. But the Paradise Papers extensively document how the company itself was incorporated in Bermuda — a tiny territory of 60,000 people that boasts no corporate tax and is considered a tax haven. Madagascar Oil had no employees there, just a mailing address at offshore law firm Appleby, where the company's administrative paperwork was signed and stamped.

• Read CBC's complete coverage of the Paradise Papers leak
  

• More than 3,000 Canadian names in the Paradise Papers

• Massive tax haven data leak reveals financial secrets of world's wealthy

• Trudeau's chief fundraiser linked to Caymans tax scheme

There is no suggestion any of Madagascar Oil's offshore activity was illegal, but offshore incorporations and accounts often allow businesses to game the tax system — adhering to the letter of the law while thwarting its spirit.

Asked his views on companies' use of offshore schemes, Chrétien said that he believed "it's not the right thing to do" and that he had fought tax havens while in office. He said he had no idea Madagascar Oil was registered in Bermuda.

Maybe they thought that ... having my name added to it would give it an air of prestige. - Former PM Jean Chrétien

"I never heard that mentioned. Listen, when someone comes to see you, you don't do an analysis of their corporate structure. They come to see you to ask for your professional opinion," Chrétien said.

"Every company has subsidiaries all over the place. ... We're not here to scrutinize that," he continued. "They asked me to help, they had retained our law firm, and I did my job. I did what I was paid to do."

But Brigitte Alepin, a Montreal-based tax expert and global authority on tax havens, said that public figures — even after they have retired — "need to avoid rubbing up against" anything involved with tax havens, which risk tarnishing their image.

• Explore the other power players in the Paradise Papers leak
• Look up other notable Canadians in the Paradise Papers

"Public figures, especially current or former prime ministers, MPs, even famous artists, have to be vigilant about not going anywhere near tax havens. Everyone in the public limelight has to do their due diligence," Alepin said.

"Mr. Chrétien ... was involved in all these questions to do with tax havens while he was running the country, so he has the ability to do a smell test and to ask the right questions."

Mystery stock options

Madagascar Oil was founded in 2004 by Sam Malin, a Canadian-raised businessman who believed Alberta oilsands expertise could help with the thorny problem of extracting Madagascar's ultra-heavy deposits of crude. Malin left the company a decade ago.

The company's other early backers and operatives, the Paradise Papers confirm, included Alan Bond, an Australian tycoon in the 1970s and '80s who came crashing down in a spectacular bankruptcy in the '90s and spent four years in prison for the country's then-biggest fraud.

A 2007 register of holders of Madagascar Oil stock options lists Chrétien's name, but he is adamant that he never obtained, or even heard of, any options after doing work for the company. (Image has been edited) (CBC/ICIJ)

The lone leaked document in the Paradise Papers actually mentioning Chrétien is a register of Madagascar Oil stock options granted through September 2007. It lists "Joseph Jacques Jean Chrétien" — his full name — as the recipient of 100,000 options issued on July 17, 2007, well before the company's shares ever traded on any stock market.

• See the document from the Paradise Papers

Chrétien is adamant he never received them. In fact, he said a CBC reporter was the first person to even tell him about it.

"I have zero records of it. I looked, and I've got nothing," he said. "They never told me I had any options. There's nothing stopping someone from saying, 'Mr. Chrétien has options to buy some of our shares.'"

Madagascar Oil did retain Chrétien's firm Heenan Blaikie and paid it $179,000 US over two years for "consulting," according to a separate, public filing the company made in 2010. Chrétien said that part seems accurate.

In a further statement issued after his name emerged over the weekend in the Paradise Papers, Chrétien said: "Any news report that suggests I have or ever had or was associated in any way with any offshore account is false. While as a lawyer for Heenan Blaikie, I did some work for Madagascar Oil as a client of the law firm. All fees were billed by the law firm and went to the law firm. I never received any share options and I never had a bank account outside Canada."

Madagascar Oil did not reply to questions about why it put Chrétien's name on the list of its stock-option holders or about any other aspect of its business.

"Maybe they thought," Chrétien speculated last month, "that since I was working for Heenan Blaikie, having my name added to it would give it an air of prestige."

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