From Frying pan to Fire: Newly elected TeliaSonera board Member, Sportify founder, avoided millions in tax
Monday, 22 April 2013
Newly elected board member of Telia-Sonera, the scandal beaten Swedish state owned telecoms company, Spotify founder, Martin Lorentzon, tends to be adding more pain to the company than the change of ethical face the company claimed to be pursuing.
The TeliaSonera's board of directors had hopped that in order o give the scandal rocked company a fresh ethical start after struggling to clear its name from accusation of corruption and money laundry, the company has chosen another entrepreneur with a weary tax record into its board. This means that the company has continued to drive itself into the wall.
The reason
for this, which also shows that there are very few ethically clean
people out here within the Swedish corporate status quo, is that the
Spotify founder has avoided paying many millions of taxes in Sweden. He
has done so by using a Cyprus Based letterbox as address, reports the
Radio Sweden.
He started the company Rosello in Cyprus in 2005 and according to the Registrar of Companies in Nicosia, information about the company is very sketchy. Radio Sweden reports that Lorentzon owned interests in Spotify, and 230,000 shares in TeliaSonera, among others.
He moved most of his company shares to the Cypriot company prior to the sale of that company. That way he did not have to pay taxes in Sweden. The gain on the sale was at least Skr250 million during 2005 - 2007. According to the Swedish Tax Board, he had underestimated at least 25 percent of the value of his stake in taxes which is just over Skr60 million.
The Registrar of Companies in Nicosia, on information about Lorentzon's Cyprus Company identified that information about it was very sketchy.
"They do not want to see who is behind the company," said Dora Constantinidou on the business register in the Cypriot capital of Nicosia.
She was looking through the documents of the Company Rosello, which according to the register, against the rules, did not provide an annual report since it was formed.
Despite all that, the president of the TeliaSonera's Nomination Committee was still interested in Lorentzons and believed that he had more to bring to the company's structure and did not think that his tax indulgencies was reason enough to not elect him to the Board.
Kristina Ekengren of the Swedish ministry of Finance told radio Sweden that "My client (the government) think that they should contribute to the Swedish society by paying their taxes here, and I have no other opinion. But Martin is a bit unique in Sweden with what he has achieved as an entrepreneur by building two successful companies in the new technology. He is hard to beat. I think we should be proud of him in Sweden."
Lorentzon declined to comment on the information to radio Sweden but his lawyer, Tommy Lundqvist says commercial reasons explain the ownership structure.
by Scancomark.com Team
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