Offshore News Digest for Week of July 9, 2001

U.S. TAX FUGITIVE IN A BELIZEAN PARADISE

BENQUE VIEJO, Belize. American tax fugitive Joseph ROSS lives life on the lam in a Belizean paradise. Here is how he does it.

ARUBA JOINS O.E.C.D. BANDWAGON

ORANJESTAD. Under pressure from The NETHERLANDS, ARUBA pledges to tow the OECD tax line, as other tax havens flee OECD commitments.

BAHAMAS DOES AS THEY ARE TOLD

NASSAU. Off the blacklist, P.M. IGRAHAM is proud he did exactly what FATF told him to do. Of course, Bahamas bank secrecy is dead.

U.S. TREASURY ENDS ADVISORIES

In the wake of FATF's blacklist removal of PANAMA, THE BAHAMAS, CAYMAN ISLANDS and LIECHTENSTEIN, official US "advisory" warnings end.

And RUSSIA finally starts to clean up its dirty cash act.

HAPPY U.K. EXPATS

LONDON. Globalization creates expatriates. Expat Brits are doing better these days, says the Financial Times.

NEW ZEALAND DEFENDS PACIFIC HAVENS

WELLINGTON. The NZ Finance Minister calls on Britain to back NZ efforts to avoid sanctions on Pacific tax havens.

And the COOK ISLANDS prime minister says his island nation, associate of New Zealand, will fight OECD demands.

SWISS LAX ON DIRTY MONEY?

The ex-head of the Swiss anti-ML agency and others knock the government for lax ML enforcement.

Even as the Swiss freeze an alleged French dirty money bank account worth $445 million.

Swiss officials reopen talks with the EU on many fronts, but insistence on banking secrecy is still the sticking point.

BULGARIAN RESTORATION

SOFIA. Ex-King Simeon SAXE-COBURG will be the country's prime minister; the first comeback for a royal house in eastern Europe since the fall of Communism.

I.R.S. NON-RESIDENT INVESTORS RULES

WASHINGTON. Tuesday we told you of a Wall Street Journal report that White House intervention may kill proposed rules that would force US banks to report to foreign tax collectors interest payments made to non-US residents. Full text of the article at,

Q.& A. FOR U.K. OFFSHORE INVESTORS The Daily Telegraph suggests Brits should "invest your money offshore and watch the tax bills tumble."

U.K. TAX DEFENDANTS HAVE RIGHTS

LONDON. In a landmark case over the Human Rights Act, the UK Court of Appeal rules defendants charged with tax evasion must be given the same due process rights as criminal defendants.

HEDGE FUND FOR HNWIs

NEW YORK. Bear Stearns, the 6th largest US brokerage, creates new funds for high net worth individuals.

U.S. TAX HAVEN UPSETS THE W.T.O.

A good explanation of how US tax laws allow American corporations to benefit from offshore tax havens, and why the WTO is upset.

BECKER MONACO TAX HOME ATTACKED

Wimbledon tennis champ Boris BECKER faces a prison sentence over charges he used a MONACO residence to avoid paying tax while living in Germany.

SOUTH AFRICAN LAND REFORM

JOHANNESBURG. The ANC government wants to avoid radical land reforms like those in neighboring ZIMBABWE.

U.S BANK PRIVACY HYPOCRISY

Lew ROCKWELL lays bare the US hypocrisy in telling other nations to end banking and financial privacy.

GREATER U.S. PRIVACY PROTECTION?

Experts are divided over a US Supreme Court decision and how far it goes in protecting personal privacy.

E.U. PROTESTS ECHELON, DOES NOTHING

A committee of the European Parliament concludes the US-led Echelon international surveillance system spies on the continent, but the EU can do nothing about it.

O.E.C.D. SANCTION THREAT DEFLATED

LONDON. The UK wont respond to SPANISH demands about GIBRALTAR that are holding up the OECD agreement on its moribund "harmful tax competition" charade.

OME. G-7 foreign ministers confirm that OECD sanction deadlines against tax havens will be delayed from July 31 to November 30 -- and possibly forever.

Associated tax havens praise NEW ZEALAND for that nation's strong opposition to OECD sanctions.

Former Ronald REAGAN advisor Peter HANNAFORD explains how the OECD's high tax campaign imploded,

SWISS DEFEND AGAINST SCANDALS

PARIS: Swiss banking representatives debunk what they call financial myths due to headline money laundering scandals.

SWISS MONEY LAUNDERING REPORT

ZURICH. The annual report on official anti-ML activities shows it's getting more difficult to do business with offshore havens from inside Switzerland due to greater bank and government scrutiny.

THIS WEEK'S HYPOCRISY

PARIS. The French parliament, fierce foes of dirty money, may ease bank reporting on large cash deposits during the euro changeover. Millions of French tax evading, cash hoarders do vote.

WASHINGTON. Most US states make Internet gambling illegal, but US companies profit from a boom in offshore Online gambling.

E.U. PUSHES PAN EUROPE TAX

BRUSSELS. Belgium is fighting for an EU-wide tax paid directly to the EU bureaucracy. UK is opposed and France skeptical.