Tax Officials Have Raided Google’s Parisian HQ: Here’s What We’re Reading Today
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Here’s what we’re reading:
1. Google’s Parisian offices have been raided by police in an investigation into money laundering and “aggravated tax fraud”
So, Google is being investigated for the way it pays its taxes in France.
French newspaper Le Parisien has reported that around 100 tax officials entered Google’s headquarters around 5 o’clock this morning. It is accused of owing €1.6 billion in unpaid taxes.
Google pays taxes in Ireland, where it is charged at a lower rate than in France.
“These searches are the result of a preliminary investigation opened on June 16, 2015 relative to aggravated tax fraud and organized money laundering following a complaint from French fiscal authorities,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement to the Associated Press. “The investigation is aimed at finding out whether Google Ireland Ltd. is permanently established in France and if, by not declaring some of its activity on French soil, it has failed to meet its fiscal obligations, in particular with regard to corporation tax and value added tax.”
2. Bill Cosby will stand trial in 2004 sexual assault case
Today a judge ruled that Bill Cosby will face a trial on criminal charges of allegedly drugging and sexually assaulting Andrea Constand in 2004. Cosby has waived a formal arraignment appearance so the process moves straight to a trial on three felony second-degree aggravated indecent assault charges — or a plea bargain.
3. North Korea isn’t impressed with Trump’s offer, calls it “nonsense”
A senior North Korean official has dismissed Donald Trump’s offer to meet Kim Jong Un, referring to his advances as a “kind of propaganda or advertisement” in the presidential election race.
Last week, Trump said he would be willing to talk to the North Korean leader to try to stop Pyongyang’s nuclear program, proposing a major shift in US policy toward the isolated nation.
“It is up to the decision of my Supreme Leader whether he decides to meet or not, but I think his [Trump’s] idea or talk is nonsense,” So Se-pyong, North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva, told Reuters on Monday.
“It’s for utilisation of the presidential election, that’s all. A kind of a propaganda or advertisement,” he added. “This is useless, just a gesture for the presidential election.”
Obama, who arrived Sunday night for his first presidential visit to Vietnam, shared the meal as part of a Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown episode that will air on CNN in September.
5. Forensics authorities dismiss explosion theory in AirEgypt crash
The head of Egypt’s forensics authority dismissed a suggestion on Tuesday that the small size of the body parts retrieved since an EgyptAir plane crashed last week indicated there was an explosion on board.
But Hisham Abdelhamid, head of Egypt’s forensics authority, said that assessment was “mere assumptions” and that it was too early to draw conclusions.
The plane and its black box recorders, which could explain what brought down the Paris-Cairo flight as it entered Egyptian air space, have not been located.
