Legal crimes: jurisdiction shopping
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- Category: Frontpage Articles
- Last Updated: Monday, 01 May 2017 09:00
- Published: Tuesday, 17 January 2012 15:57
- Written by Andrew Wright
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When is a crime not a crime? This is a question that CrimeTalk will ask in 2012 as part of the current global interrogation of the ethics of capitalism, and whether the apparent absence of any ethics is inevitable or typical. As the global critique, and the legal problems raised by globalization continue, it raises issues about why politicians allow something to be done in their country that would be a crime in most other countries. One of the sadder answers is that a crime is not a crime in practice when the perpetrator commits the act abroad in a developing country with the collusion of local rulers in complete disrespect for the local population.
During the colonial period of British imperialism, for example, our rulers exported the theory of the rule of law in democracy but were often extremely slow or entirely forgetful in actually applying it to the sins of our own colonial military, miners, entrepreneurs, police and administrators. A local worker could be beaten to death by a mine supervisor in sub-Saharan Africa and receive only a small fine or even be found innocent if the poor victim had an ‘enlarged spleen’. In this article, Andrew Wright will outline another answer to our question: multinational companies today look for countries with lax regulatory regimes to expand their business, in what is known as jurisdiction shopping: as I type this on an Apple iMac made affordable to me by the low wages of South-East Asian workers in this age of neo- or economic colonialism. [Ed.]
Christmas 2011 is almost upon us, with the ethos of capitalism under fire the world over. Let us remind ourselves why this is so, and why so many now want a much more socially responsible form of economy, by paying a visit to an iconic capitalist city... In Hong Kong today some people still live in cages. They are not prisoners. They are simply persons rendered invisible in a world city where belonging and citizenship are instilled through financial capital and personal connections. In this article I describe this social problem within the context of rising levels of inequality in Hong Kong. I also present the Hong Kong government’s response to the problem and underscore the inadequacy of this response.
Once I took two girls from the Square. When we came to a crossroad, a truck was changing directions. I slowed down (my motorcycle), but one of the girls said her feet got hurt and she called 7-8 hooligans to beat me up. It was close to Huafeng police station. When the police came out, all of them ran away. I was beaten heavily and could not even stand up. The police did not chase those hooligans. An ambulance also came as my fellow countrymen called 110 (China’s police hotline). Doctors asked me to get it checked at the hospital, but we are migrant workers, how can I do that? Taking an ambulance will cost us 200 yuan ($30 or £16) per ride. We have no money! Later on, one of my fellow countrymen took me to hospital with his motorcycle. When we arrived, I felt a little bit better. So, I decided not to get checked. We migrant workers suffer a lot! Late that night, I found those who beat me up in front of an internet café, so I went to the police station and asked the police to catch them. The police were unwilling to go. They asked me if I could recognize them. I said “yes, I could definitely recognize them.” Then, the police said if they denied (the offence), what should the police do? This is how the police replied! Police officers are local people, when local people beat us up, the police will definitely support them. Here we have no way out if we are beaten up. (A narrative of a 46-year old migrant motorcycle taxi driver Uncle Dong).
