Offshore News Digest for Week of June 24, 2002

SCHIZOPHRENIC SWISS

You would think that under EU and OECD pressure to compromise their statutory banking secrecy, Swiss leaders would present a united, strong defense front. Check the articles listed below and guess again.

Swiss President Villiger rebuffs EU attack on banking secrecy.

Swiss admit to bank rule flaws. Financial Times.

Swiss Banking Official Says Tax Info Position Hard to Defend.

Swiss-EU Talks Underway Again.

I.B.C. BONANZA: ISLE OF MAN MAY END CORPORATE TAXES

Radical plans to slash corporation tax from 20% to zero, in a gesture of defiance to Gordon Brown, the UK Chancellor.

GIBRALTAR TURMOIL CONTINUES

Spanish-UK deal on The Rock looks dead, but Labour's UK Foreign Office toadies keep on smearing this offshore financial center.

BAHAMAS SEMANTICS GAME

Not encouraging: the new PLP government minster plays word games. When is a 'financial center' not an 'offshore financial center'?

HONG KONG'S NEW GOVERNMENT UNVEILED

Tung Chee-hwa, Hong Kong's Beijing-approved chief executive, unveils his power play take over of government; civil service be damned.

RUSSIA CONSIDERS OFFSHORE CASH AMNESTY

Won't you come home dear rubles, won't you come home!

OFFSHORE TAX SAVINGS ON INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Ship your patents and copyrights to a tax haven entity and save on high US taxes.

And there are big operating savings in 'outsourcing' offshore.

BERMUDA-BASED TYCO'S OFFSHORE TAX SAVINGS

Tax cutting strategies saved $600 million plus, with 150 subsidiaries in Jersey, Cayman Islands, Luxembourg and Barbados.

A G-7/G-8 PRIMER

Big Boys of G-7 & 8 meet in Canada Wednesday. Here's a guide.

FOUR NATIONS GET OFF DIRTY CASH LIST

But a 'filthy fifteen' remain on FATF's blacklist.

WHITE COLLAR DESPERADOES

CNN's Lou Dobbs says ex-S&L fraudster Charles Keating is now advisor to an offshore investment firm in BELIZE.

NEW YORK TIMES TAX SMEAR ANSWERED

Accounting firm Ernst & Young says its tax shelters are legal.

I.R.S. DEMANDS INTERNAL WORKING PAPERS

In what it calls an effort to shut down 'abusive' corporate tax shelters, the IRS will demand private internal papers.

And the IRS revives its taxpayer hated 'random audits'.

Why You Can't Trust The IRS, Cato Institute.

Top Ten Civil Liberties Abuses of the Income Tax, Cato Institute.

U.S. COURT BARS FRAUDULENT TRUST PLANS

Rex E. Black customers list turned over for more investigation.

MONEY MOVES

O.E.C.D. WANT CASHLESS SOCIETY.

U.S. TO CHANGE CASH COLORS.

U.K. POUND STERLING BACKERS DON'T TRUST LABOUR.

DOLLAR HITS TWO-YEAR EURO LOW.

BILL BONNER SEES MORE BEARS

This is the second phase of a bear market, he says.

CATO REPORT ON GLOBAL ECONOMIC FREEDOM

Hong Kong is still the world's freest economy, Singapore a close second. Cato's annual report on economies of 123 countries.

Cato report on 'International Tax Competition.'

BAHAMAS ECONOMY IN DIRE STRAIGHTS

NASSAU. After badly damaging the offshore sector, the ousted FNM government left behind an economic mess.

BERMUDA-U.S POLITICS

WASHINGTON. American election complicates offshore tax issues.

ISLE OF MAN ENDS CORPORATE TAXES

DOUGLAS, IoM. Offshore IBCs will thrive under zero tax regime.

ADOPT GIBRALTAR?

Will The Rock get a voice and a vote in the UK House of Commons?

LATEST F.A.T.F. BLACKLIST

FATF Thirteenth Annual Report.

WALL STREET THE REAL TARGET?

RON HOLLAND poses the question: Was the Real 9/11 Terror Target Wall Street; What's Next?

AMERICANS TAXED ON WORLDWIDE INCOME

Here's the US Supreme Court case that established the rule; COOK v TAIT, 265 US 47 (1924)

PROPERTY IS A CIVIL RIGHT

Law professor explains why property ownership means liberty.

THE MYSTERY OF CENTRAL BANKING

Murray Rothbard's 'The Mystery of Banking' explains the system.

NIGERIAN SCAM KEEPS ON ROLLING ALONG

Flood of e-mails fleece the unthinking greedy.

ALL EYES ARE ON YOU! IS THIS A DAY IN YOUR LIFE?

Every minute of every day THEY are watching what you do.

BANKS SPY ON YOU

Wells Fargo, UBS, Schwab, Citigroup are all government informers.

A PLOT TO CONTROL ENCRYPTION?

Are US software makers conspiring to compromise encryption?

GOVERNMENT MAKES YOU PAY FOR WIRETAPPING

FBI demand for new surveillance forces telecoms to upgrade equipment, forego new customer services and you pay the bill.

FBI CHECKING LIBRARY RECORDS

Agents visit libraries and check reading records of suspects.

MONEY, MOB TIES ALLEGED IN MONACO BOOK

PARIS. Allegations of money laundering, Mafia activity and a co-opted judiciary. The principality's government denies and protests.

LIFE IN GIBRALTAR UNDER THE GUN

Economic ties bind Gibraltarians to mainland Spain, even as The Rock backs unending British colonial control.

And Gibraltar may follow Isle of Man with zero corporate taxes.

EXPERTS SEE MANX I.B.C. BOOM

Zero corporate taxes means more business, could hurt Channel Islands.

ISRAEL PLANS TO BECOME TAX HAVEN

TEL AVIV. Fresh off the FATF blacklist, Israel plans to encourage foreign companies to relocate their operations with tax breaks.

AUSTRALIA-NAURU ALLIANCE HELPS BOTH

CANBERRA. Refugees and money laundering issues blend.

ST. VINCENT MAKES F.A.T.F. ALMOST HAPPY

KINGSTOWN. We'll get off that blacklist yet, pledges PM Gonsalves.

ST. KITTS-NEVIS ECONOMIC HEALTH SOUND

BASSETERRE. I.M.F. judges this tax haven's economy is good.

FRAUD DRIVES FOREIGN INVESTMENT AWAY FROM U.S.

$5 trillion in foreign capital could flow out as scandal spreads.

U.S. CONGRESS TARGETS TAX HAVENS

WASHINGTON. Lawmakers are urged to go slow on ban against US company reincorporations in offshore tax havens.

IRISH HIGH COURT ORDERS CAYMAN BANK NAMES REVEALED

DUBLIN. Full disclosure of Ansbacher (Cayman) bank account holders is ordered for July 2nd; possible tax evasion is the issue.

BRITS INVEST IN OFFSHORE SUN

LONDON. 700,000 Brits have invested in offshore real estate in Spain, Portugal, France and Italy.

DEMOCRATS TARGET CORPORATE OFFSHORE ABUSE

US Democrat politicians will make a major issue of corporate greed, even as they demand business contributions.

FinCEN RULES FOR FOREIGN PERSONS U.S. ACCOUNTS

Proposed FinCEN rules for US banks' due diligence covering all offshore correspondent and private banking accounts for non-U.S. persons.

POOR PLANNING PLUCKS PRINCESS

LONDON. Princess Margaret left £7.7 million in her will but the UK taxman took almost £3 million in inheritance taxes.