Fingers in the honey jar? France’s financial prosecution office is investigating.

This week on The Sound Kitchen you'll hear the answer to the question about the alleged French bank dividend arbitrage trading scheme. There's the “Listeners Corner” with Michael Fitzpatrick and “Music from Erwan” with Erwan Rome. All that, and the new quiz question, too, so click on the “Play” button above and enjoy!  

Hello everyone! Welcome to The Sound Kitchen weekly podcast, published every Saturday – here on our website, or wherever you get your podcasts. You'll hear the winner's names announced and the week's quiz question, along with all the other ingredients you've grown accustomed to: your letters and essays, “On This Day”, quirky facts and news, interviews, and great music … so be sure and listen every week.

Erwan and I are busy cooking up special shows with your musical requests, so get them in! Send your musical requests to [email protected]  Tell us why you like the piece of music, too – it makes it more interesting for us all!

Be sure you check out our wonderful podcasts!

In addition to the breaking news articles on our site, with in-depth analysis of current affairs in France and across the globe, we have several podcasts which will leave you hungry for more.

There's Paris Perspective, Spotlight on France, and of course, The Sound Kitchen. We have an award-winning bilingual series – an old-time radio show, with actors (!) to help you learn French, called Les voisins du 12 bis. And there is the excellent International Report, too.

As you see, sound is still quite present in the RFI English service. Keep checking our website for updates on the latest from our staff of journalists. You never know what we'll surprise you with!

To listen to our podcasts from your PC, go to our website; you'll see “Podcasts” at the top of the page. You can either listen directly or subscribe and receive them directly on your mobile phone.

To listen to our podcasts from your mobile phone, slide through the tabs just under the lead article (the first tab is “Headline News”) until you see “Podcasts”, and choose your show. 

Teachers, take note! I save postcards and stamps from all over the world to send to you for your students. If you would like stamps and postcards for your students, just write and let me know. The address is [email protected]  If you would like to donate stamps and postcards, feel free! Our address is listed below. 

Another idea for your students: Br. Gerald Muller, my beloved music teacher from St Edward's University in Austin, Texas, has been writing books for young adults in his retirement – and they are free! There is a volume of biographies of painters and musicians called Gentle Giants, and an excellent biography of Dr Martin Luther King, Jr, too. They are also a good way to help you improve your English - that's how I worked on my French, reading books which were meant for young readers – and I guarantee you, it's a good method for improving your language skills. To get Br. Gerald's free books, click here.

Independent RFI English Clubs: Be sure to always include Audrey Iattoni ([email protected]) from our Listener Relations department in all your RFI Club correspondence. Remember to copy me ([email protected]) when you write to her so that I know what is going on, too. N.B.: You do not need to send her your quiz answers! Email overload!

And don't forget, there is a Facebook page just for you, the independent RFI English Clubs. Only members of RFI English Clubs can belong to this group page, so when you apply to join, be sure you include the name of your RFI Club and your membership number. Everyone can look at it, but only members of the group can post on it. If you haven't yet asked to join the group, and you are a member of an independent, officially recognized RFI English club, go to the Facebook link above, and fill out the questionnaire !!!!! (if you do not answer the questions, I click “decline”).

There's a Facebook page for members of the general RFI Listeners Club too. Just click on the link and fill out the questionnaire, and you can connect with your fellow Club members around the world. Be sure you include your RFI Listeners Club membership number (most of them begin with an A, followed by a number) in the questionnaire, or I will have to click “Decline”, which I don't like to do!

This week's quiz:  On 1 April, I asked you a question about our article “Prosecutors raid French banks in multi-billion-euro tax fraud investigation”. Earlier that week, five French banks were raided by investigators from the financial prosecution office, looking for evidence of an alleged dividend arbitrage trading scheme that allowed investors to avoid paying billions in taxes. The French banks are accused of facilitating the scheme and taking commissions on the illegal trades.

Our beloved France is not the only European country to have allegedly participated in such a scheme … you were to re-read our article and send in the answer to this question: how much has the dividend arbitrage trading scheme been estimated to have cost a dozen other European countries in taxes?

The answer is, to quote our article:  “ Similar investigations have been conducted in Germany and other European countries, with the fraud estimated to have cost a dozen countries 140 billion euros in lost tax revenue over 20 years.”

In addition to the quiz question, there was the bonus question,  suggested by  Kashif Khalil from Faisalabad, Pakistan: “W hat is your dream job?"  

The winners are:  Razia Khalid, who's a member of the RFI Seven Stars Radio Listeners Club in District Chiniot, Pakistan.  Razia is also the winner of this week's bonus question: “W hat is your dream job?"

Congratulations Razia!
The other winners this week are Rasheed Naz, the p resident of the Naz Radio France and Internet Fan Club in Faisal Abad, Pakistan, and Hasina Zaman Hasi, who's a member of the RFI   Amour Fan Club in Rajshahi, Bangladesh. Rounding out the list are RFI Listeners Club member Tasneem Saleh from Nilphamari, Bangladesh, and RFI English listener Sima Paul from West Bengal, India.

Congratulations winners!
Here's the music you heard on this week's programme:  “Moonlight in Vermont” by Karl Suessdorf and John Blackburn, performed by the Ahmad Jamal Trio; “Sabre Dance” from the Gayané Suite No. 3 by Aram Khachaturian, performed by the Berlin Philharmonic conducted by Simon Rattle; “ The Flight of the Bumblebee” by Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov; “The Cakewalk” from Children's Corner by Claude Debussy performed by the composer;   “When Irish Eyes are Smiling” by Ernest Ball, Chauncey Olcott, and George Graff, Jr., sung by John McCormack, and “Poinciana” by Nat Simon and  Buddy Bernier, arranged by Ahmed Jamal, and performed by Ahmad Jamal and his ensemble.

Do you have a musical request? Send it to [email protected] 

This week's question ... you must listen to the show to participate.  After you've listened to the show, re-read our article “Expansion of North Sea wind farms tops the agenda at Ostend energy summit” to help you with the answer.

You have until 5 June to enter this week's quiz; the winners will be announced on the 10 June podcast. When you enter, be sure you send your postal address with your answer, and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

Send your answers to:
[email protected]
or
Susan Owensby
RFI – The Sound Kitchen
80, rue Camille Desmoulins
92130 Issy-les-Moulineaux
France
or
By text … You can also send your quiz answers to The Sound Kitchen mobile phone. Dial your country's international access code, or “ + ”, then  33 6 31 12 96 82. Don't forget to include your mailing address in your text – and if you have one, your RFI Listeners Club membership number.

To find out how you can win a special Sound Kitchen prize, click here.

To find out how you can become a member of the RFI Listeners Club, or form your own official RFI Club, click here.