Offshore News Digest for Week of September 3, 2001

GIBRALTAR SLASHES CORPORATE TAXES

Under EU and UK pressure to end its supposed “preferential” offshore tax regime, Gibraltar cuts business taxes from 35% to 8% for everyone, as the UK government undermines the economy of its colony/tax haven.

CYPRUS AS TAX HEAVEN IS DEAD

NICOSIA. This once attractive offshore tax haven admits it has ended that status by appeasing EU and OECD demands.

BAHAMAS BALONEY

NASSAU. Having systematically destroyed The Bahamas as a leading offshore haven nation, the politicians now try to paper over their damage with a phony new program that fools no one.

CARIBBEAN NATIONS TALK UNITY

Not for the first time, six small Caribbean island nations, including leading tax havens, talk union as a means of survival.

DOES BUSH BACK MORE CIVIL FORFEITURE?

WASHINGTON. The new head of the US Customs Service and IRS criminal investigations says he's going after the funds of lawyers, bankers and accountants. US money police have grabbed nearly $10 billion.

I.R.S. HITS MERRILL LYNCH

WASHINGTON. The brokerage agrees to pay a large fine for advocating "questionable tax shelters" to clients.

I.R.S. MISPLACES ALMOST A BILLION

The check was not in the mail! 40,000 federal tax returns and payments involving $810 million were either lost or destroyed.

EURO OFFICIAL LAUNCH

BRUSSELS. On Thursday EU bureaucrats launched the 'euro' and all over Europe, hoarded cash is coming out of mattresses.

EURO VS. ITALIAN FREEDOM

ROME. A Italian activist concludes the Italian government has sold out Italy's sovereignty by accepting the euro.

EUROPEANS HOARD CASH

Many Europeans keep their money unbanked. A third of the 333 billion euro (£210 billion) cash circulating in Europe is hoarded to avoid taxes.

SPANISH ELITE VICTIMS OF MULTIMILLION $ SCAM

MADRID. A trail of $91 million dollars in possible fraud winds its way through Jersey, Switzerland and an as yet unnamed tax haven.

F.A.T.F. BLACKLIST DWINDLES

We have reported much about the OECD's Financial Action Task Force (FATF) blacklist issued in June 2000 accusing 15 nations of tolerating criminal cash. As of early this week only RUSSIA, the PHILIPPINES and NAURU remained on the list.

And two days ago the Pacific island of NAURU, said it too has a new anti-money laundering law in place.

F.A.T.F. "TOOTHLESS POODLE"

A leading advocate of offshore financial freedom claims that in the area of Internet gambling, now a booming $3 billion a year business, FATF is as ineffective as a "toothless poodle".

PUTIN'S OFFSHORE CONNECTION

The RUSSIAN president's alleged connection with criminal offshore cash dealings may have kept the nation on FATF's blacklist.

ANTIGUA COMES CLEAN

Both the US and UK lifted their 'financial advisory' warnings on Antigua & Barbuda, now this offshore nation touts its fight against money laundering and organized crime.

MALAYSIA MONEY

LABUAN, Malaysia's offshore financial hub, with 60 odd offshore banks in its 'International Offshore Financial Center,' also has a new Anti-ML law.

AFRICAN CASH CLEANERS

DARES SALAAM. Six countries in eastern and southern Africa establish a task force to curb money laundering and economic crimes.

UNSUNG PRIVACY HERO

George Orwell's classic novel '1984' depicts a world in which individuals have no privacy, freedom or power. Phil Zimmermann's PGP encryption helped thwart those horrors.

CARIBBEAN HAVENS TALK UNION

Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts-Nevis, St. Lucia and St. Vincent talk about a political union.

CAYMANS, BAHAMAS BANKS USED FOR TAX EVASION

An Ohio man faces 10 years in prison and $1 million in fines for conspiring to help his brother hide $4.5 million in offshore banks to avoid paying taxes on the money.

And the CAYMAN ISLANDS has yet another group fighting dirty money, the Cayman Anti-Money laundering (CAMLG).

BERMUDA COMPANY LIMITS

HAMILTON. The government may limit types of companies allowed to relocate here to ease labor and housing shortages.

FLOATING TAX HAVEN?

Come 2002, the world's first cruise ship condo hits the water. European tax collectors think it's really a tax dodge.

COOK ISLAND DISSENTER

RAROTONGA, C.I. Politician makes an angry attack on expatriate business people and foreign investors.

NAURU'S NEW HAVEN ROLE

It may look idyllic, but what will 300 Afghans make of Nauru, an offshore haven speck in the Pacific Ocean?

CANADA ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING RULES DELAYED

OTTAWA. Canada's politicians learned nothing from the burdens of the miserable US cash reporting laws, and so their statutory imitation is doomed to repeat the US mess.

Text of Canadian Proceeds of Crime (Money Laundering) Act:

And stung by the Financial Action Task Force blacklisting, EGYPT plans to adopt a new anti-ML law soon.

HUNGARY ENDS ANONYMOUS BANK ACCOUNTS

BUDAPEST. Hungary was added to the FATF dirty money laundering blacklist last June, so now it bans its version of the dying Austrian sparbuch.

EURO LAUNCHES ALLEGED CRIME WAVE

LONDON. Some say the new euro currency carries risk of money laundering on a huge scale.

GERMAN KNOCKS TOBIN TAX

BERLIN. A Finance Ministry spokesman says a tax on international capital transactions is not the way to go.

BLACK SHEEP BEATS BANK

WILMINGTON, Delaware. Could you be the beneficiary of a $300 million trust and not even know it? It's possible.

GET MORE CASH FROM OLD TRUSTS

If you're the income beneficiary of a trust and need more spending money, read this. Then call your trustee and ask for a bigger slice.

FAST TRACK U.K. PASSPORTS

LONDON. Foreign executives starting work in Britain can get special fast treatment for requested visas.

BRIT TAX HAVEN CASINOS UNDERCUT U.K. TAXES

Crown Dependency tax havens were once controllable when London could watch and record the movement of people and money. Controlling the movement of Internet electrons is nearly impossible, thank Heaven!

In the Irish Sea, the ISLE of MAN enjoys a tax bonanza as it is swamped by demand for costly Internet casino licenses.

On the Channel Island of GUERNSEY, domiciled funds now total £32 (US$46.7) billion, up £5.5 billion during the 2nd 2001 quarter.

JERSEY and GUERNSEY are hopeful about 'new' OECD policies.

GIBRALTAR TAX SLASH CONFIRMED

The government confirms it will cut corporate taxes from 35% for domestic companies to 8%-12% for all companies, an attempt to keep offshore companies in this British tax haven.

CARIBBEAN HAVENS COURT TAIWAN

Antigua, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts-Nevis, and St. Lucia are talking political union.

Now they are seeking financial aid from TAIWAN.

COOK ISLANDS UPHOLD TRUST PROTECTION

RAROTONGA, C.I. The High Court issues a "Mareva Injunction" requiring a local trustee to transfer all assets of a CI trust in a Swiss bank to the Cook Islands.

More about Mareva injunctions:

But all is not well in Cook Island domestic politics.

TOBIN TAX THREAT LINGERS ON

Franco-German leaders talk taxes on cross border capital moves.

Socialists, leftist and tax collectors love this asinine tax.

But German finance officials says it's impractical nonsense.

U.N. WORLD TAXATION PLANS

How the UN plans to impose global taxation.

OPPOSITION TO E.U. STOCK RULES

More new bureaucratic EU directives governing stock and bond issues could raise costs and hurt capital markets.

SOUTH AFRICA ATTACKS ON WEALTH

The nation badly needs foreign investment, but the ANC government seems bent on scaring off capital with still more taxes.

OFFSHORE SPANISH CASH FALLS

Spanish investment in tax havens fell by 47% in 2000.

IRISH MILLIONAIRE WANTS RICH GAMBLERS

One of Ireland's richest and most elusive men launches an Internet sports betting service aimed at the richest gamblers.

FINANCIAL ACTION TASK FORCE HYPOCRISY

PARIS. The president of FATF, Regina Ip of Hong Kong, tells her fellow cash cops how vigilant her own government is in fighting money laundering. Meanwhile, Hong Kong tax evasion is UP 69% since 1995.

FATF SAYS 'KILL DUE PROCESS'

As a prelude to police forfeiture, FATF demands all nations reverse the burden of proof, forcing accused 'money launderers' to prove assets are clean. FATF wants laws to reveal true owners of all IBCs and trusts.

RUSSIAN DIRTY LAUNDRY

MOSCOW. A revealing interview; the head of the Russian National Reserve Bank, on capital flight, money laundering, and much more.

E.U. PARLIAMENT KNOCKS ECHELON

The European Parliament says Echelon, the US global electronic surveillance, does exist and it breaches human rights. (Duh!)

CASH I.D. SURVEILLANCE CHIP

Hitachi develops a chip to be woven into paper money to expose counterfeit cash. It also can track your cash movements.

TEMPORARY ENCRYPTION KEYS

Beat UK government surveillance laws that require turn over of your secret encryption keys; use temporary keys.