Offshore News Digest for Week of August 5, 2002

NEW YORK TIMES NEXT TAX TARGET: IRELAND

'Reporter' Johnston pronounces offshore tax moves to Bermuda by US corporations 'dead.' His next smear target - very low tax Ireland.

MAJOR U.S. CORPORATION BULLIED INTO OFFSHORE REVERSAL

Stanley Tool Works decides against reincorporating in Bermuda to save taxes, citing political pressure and proposed new tax law restrictions.

BUSH, CHENEY UNDER FIRE

Offshore corporate past dredged up to embarrass Bush, Cheney.

MAJOR BRITISH INTERNET SERVER FLEES HIGH U.K. TAXES

Freeserve moves headquarters to low tax Madeira, saves £17.5 million.

BAHAMAS COURT RULING BLOW TO OFFSHORE SECTOR

NASSAU. Upholding 2001 panic legislation, Court rules government information demands override attorney-client confidentiality.

U.K. CONTROLLED CAYMANS COZIES UP TO OECD, FATF

GEORGE TOWN, C.I. The islands were the first to cave into OECD info exchange demands in May 2000. Latest reward: a big deal conference.

IRISH TAX COLLECTORS CHASE SOUTH AFRICAN BANK

JOHANNESBURG. Irish tax collectors will pursue scandal ridden offshore banking group Ansbacher for back taxes including its owners, FirstRand.

HONG KONG FEELS THE HEAT

Far East's oldest low-tax haven, burdened with property price drops, poverty, unprecedented budget deficit, exodus of expat professionals.

PHILIPPINE DICTATOR'S MISSING MILLIONS?

Notorious leftist writer claims that on 3/23/86, a day before a freeze on Ferdinand Marcos' accounts, KPMG secretly transferred $400 million from Credit Suisse to a Liechtenstein trust on the ex-dictator's behalf.

SWISS FLAG BECOMES FASHION STATEMENT

ZURICH. Resurgent patriotism seen in red and white T-shirts.

LATIN 'SWITZERLAND' BAILED OUT BY U.S.

URUGUAY gets US$1.5 billion loan to avoid banking collapse.

OFFSHORE INVESTMENT FUNDS HIT BY U.S. JITTERS

But some performers stand out with surprising strength.

S&P Top 500 Offshore Funds.

EUROPEAN UNION HIDES LAX ACCOUNTING MESS

BRUSSELS. The EU tells everyone how to run their financial affairs, but now it is accused of shoddy internal accounting and a cover up.

NAMIBIAN DIAMOND LOAN RUMORED

WINDHOEK, Namibia. Rich US dealer offers government big offshore loan to drop De Beers diamond price comparison plan.

TENNIS STAR MAY AVOID TAX EVASION SENTENCE

Germany claims Boris Becker owes it millions in back taxes; he says he is a resident of tax-free MONACO.

Red tax collectors charge fading Chinese film star with tax evasion.

AMERICAN BARONS OF BANKRUPTCY

FT special report: how top managers of 25 biggest recent US corporate collapses amassed $3.3 billion in cash and perks for themselves.

PATRIOT ACT MAKES YOU A SUSPECT!

Outrageous law forces all financial institutions to treat all of us as suspected criminals; secret police reports of suspicious activity.

BATTLE TO PRESERVE AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES

As Pogo once said, "We have met the enemy and he is us."

FREEDOM vs. SECURITY

Civil liberties concerns grow as Congress considers homeland security.

U.K. OBSERVER SAYS BUSH IS READY TO DECLARE WAR

Pres. Bush will announce within weeks the US will depose Iraq's ruler, Saddam Hussein, by force, meaning a war in the Gulf this winter.

NEW STUDY SHOWS HYPOCRISY OF O.E.C.D.

A new study shows the sanctimonious OECD is more guilty of lack of transparency and tax favoritism than the offshore havens it attacks.

U.S. STATE OF MONTANA NOT VERY 'OFFSHORE'

BOZEMAN. They said 'offshore banking' would bring millions to Montana. In 6 years since it became law it's only produced scandal.

MISCELLANEOUS OFFSHORE TAX HAVEN NEWS

American energy industry taps into havens to minimize US taxes.

Effort to Curb Tax Havens Could Be Costly for Consultants.

Channel Island Jersey Firm Faces Probe Over Enron Offshore Deals.

Russia's Pravda explains US use of tax havens to its readers.

Populist ignorance in America's dairy land.

Wall Street Journal editorial: Stanley Worked Over

LATIN AMERICA:

CHILE keeps its head as all about lose theirs.

Bolstered by $1.5 billion US aid, URUGUAY calm as banks reopen.

PASSPORT NEWS:

Latin Entrepreneurs Use Visa For Executives to Settle in US.

US visitors by 2004 must have microchip IDs in their passports.

Mounties looking for 247 missing Canadian passport.

SWISS UNFREEZE MARCOS MILLIONS

ZURICH. You often read about the Swiss government freezing alleged laundered money. But they just gave back US$17 million of Marcos cash because no proof was offered of illegal activity.

PROTEST AGAINST U.K. DESIGNATION OF IRISH TAX HAVEN

LONDON. UK tax expert condemns Inland Revenue harmful inclusion of IRELAND on the list of countries deemed to be 'tax havens.'

BRITISH LABOUR GIBRALTAR POLICY SLAMMED

UK accused of 'riding roughshod' over the rights of Gibraltarians.

ANOTHER BELIZE PASSPORT SCANDAL?

BELIZE CITY. Local paper charges illegal sales of defunct economic citizenships; official criminal investigation called for by minister.

BERMUDA DAMAGED IMAGE AFTER STANLEY BAILS

HAMILTON. Negative consequences for Bermuda's ability to attract international business is predicted after Stanley Tool pulls out.

NICARAGUA EX-PREZ CHARGED WITH OFFSHORE STASH

MANAGUA. Ex-president Alemán charged with looting $95m and hiding cash offshore in Panama and other havens.

LAST U.K. GOVERNOR THINKS HONG KONG O.K.

Chris Patten, last British governor of Hong Kong, is satisfied with communist China's five-year-old rule of the former UK colony.

TONGA JESTER COSTS ISLAND KINGDOM $26 MILLION

Offshore investments drained a Tongan royal trust fund of $26 million, almost half the country's annual budget.

U.S. TREASURY COUNSEL BLAMES DUBAI

HAMILTON, Bermuda. Speaking here, US Treasury Dept. counsel David Aufhouser calls Dubai the 'epicenter of terrorist financing'.

AUSTRALIAN GOLD TOWN BOOMING

KALGOORLIE, Australia. Rise in world gold prices revives an outback mining town where modern day prospectors search for the mother lode.

WORLD ENTREPRENEURSHIP RATINGS

Mexico, New Zealand, Australia, Korea, and Brazil are the top five.

GOOD REASON TO MOVE YOUR ASSETS OFFSHORE

Pres. Bush criticizes 'junk and frivolous lawsuits' by unscrupulous trial lawyers that are decimating the US health care industry.

BIG BROTHER CREDIT CARD COMPANIES

Why should credit card companies allow a New York politician to tell you what you can or cannot buy with your plastic?

USA PATRIOT ACT IMPEDES INSURANCE INDUSTRY

War against terrorism muddles the insurance industry.

LATIN EXEMPTION CHEERS FLORIDA BANKS

IRS proposal for reporting foreigners' US income doesn't cover South America, and Florida bank lobbyists are crowing.

WHICH GEORGE IS IT? BUSH OR ORWELL?

George Bush...or is it George Orwell? Is '1984' a how-to manual?

NEW U.S. HIGH TECH SPY SYSTEM PLANNED

A US agency plans a 'Total Information Awareness' system, a high-tech eavesdropping program that leaves no data unexamined.

TEAMSTERS UNION BACKS BUSH INFORMANT PLAN

Hoffa & Co. make a deal to join the Bush TIPs neighborhood spy plan.

TIPs CALLS GO TO TV SHOW

WASHINGTON: It borders on the surreal, but the US Dept. of Justice is forwarding incoming Operation TIPS calls to the office of "America's Most Wanted" television series!