Offshore News Digest for Week of July 30, 2001

LIECHTENSTEIN: WHO CAN YOU TRUST?

VADUZ: Tuesday we reported Liechtenstein's broad cooperation on mutual legal assistance requests from other nations.

Now comes word that trustees of thousands of trusts here are in chaos trying to meet a promise to reveal clients' confidential information by a fast approaching deadline. The disclosure was part of little known deal to get the principality off the FATF money laundering blacklist.

BELGIUM AS TAX HAVEN?

BRUSSELS. If you're a rich EU citizen and you play your tax loopholes right, you can save a bundle by moving to high tax Belgium, (where leftist government hypocrites loudly back EU 'tax harmonization.')

BULGARIA WELCOMES YOUR CASH

SOFIA. Simeon Saxe-Coburg, formerly King Simeon II, sworn in as prime minister, promptly appeals for foreign investment.

BAHAMAS 51st U.S STATE?

NASSAU. Having complied with OECD, FATF and US Treasury orders to eviscerate its offshore laws, The Bahamas now requires reporting to the government all cash transactions exceeding $10,000, including travelers checks, bearer shares, postal and other money orders.

BELIZE IN LORD ASHCROFT ROW AGAIN

LONDON. The UK Labour government continues to pressure BELIZE to abolish tax breaks for offshore investors. Highly unlikely!

BARCLAYS CARIBBEAN MERGER

KINGSTON, Jamaica. CIBC West Indies Holdings, subsidiary of Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and Barclays UK merge to create 1st Caribbean International Bank with $10bn in assets.

CHINA DOMINATES HK's STOCK MARKET

HONG KONG. The blue chip Hang Seng Index is growing very Red.

PACIFIC HAVENS DEFY O.E.C.D. DEADLINE

Led by the Cook Islands, Pacific tax havens wont be pushed around by artificial OECD deadlines and demands for commitments.

BERMUDA BONANZA

HAMILTON, Bermuda. After tightening up financial and money laundering laws, this British overseas territory is cashing in on its traditional corporate tax free status. Accenture (aka Anderson) Consulting leads the US offshore parade to this mid-Atlantic tax haven.

And it looks like the US Congress wont plug the "Bermuda insurance loophole" used by many US insurers to escape US taxes.

AUSTRALIAN-US TAX TREATY COSTS BIG

Under a double tax treaty with the US, Australian businesses operating in the US are hit with a 15% US withholding tax on repatriated profits. Solution? Move to the NETHERLANDS, so James Hardie Industries' taxes are cut 30%, raising profits by AU$30 million (US$15.3 million).

W.T.O. HITS US F.S.C. RULES

The WTO rules US foreign sales corporation tax breaks are illegal subsidies that must end, a victory for EU complainers.

AMERICAN ESTATE PLANNERS FRENZY

Bush's supposed estate tax repeal really is only a one year repeal.

MAJOR THAI STOCK FRAUD BUST

BANGKOK. Police arrest 30 Brits in connection with a major global stock selling scam worth £100 million.

IRS FRAUDS SITE

The US IRS has a new web site designed to alert taxpayers and tax practitioners to tax scams and fraud schemes.

IRS fraud web site, here.

IF YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND THE EURO...

A Perth newspaper, The Western Australian, provides one of the best and most comprehensive explanations of the euro's advent and what it means financially and otherwise. Interesting read at,

PANAMA TAX SHELTERS

Want to know more about PANAMA's friendly attitude towards offshore investors and one shelter, forestry, in particular? Click here,

GOLD PRICES LEFT IN THE DUST

South African platinum & palladium prices are leaving gold behind.

GOVERNMENT SPIES ON YOUR CASH

Short, succinct and to the point; a devastating indictment of the US-FATF money laundering attack on your financial privacy.

BUSH REVIEW OF ANTI-M.L. LAWS

American banks applaud as the US Treasury reviews inane and costly cash reporting laws with hope of reasserting financial privacy.

EURO CONVERSION MAY CLEAN DIRTY CASH

Organized crime could reap huge illegal rewards during the confusion of the E664bn (US$578bn) change over on January 1st.

SWISS STEP UP DIRTY MONEY FIGHT

ZURICH. The Swiss parliament may create a new central anti-money laundering unit to quell criticism of a lax dirty cash policy.

PHILIPPINES EXPAND MONEY CLEANING RULES

MANILA. Anxious to get off the FATF blacklist, the Philippines SEC brings stock brokers under anti-ML laws.

CAYMAN ISLANDS INCOME TAX?

GEORGE TOWN, C.I. A growing government deficit produces talk about levying a possible income tax in this heretofore tax free haven. Will foreign investors be taxed?

The Ansbacher Caymans Bank scandal expands with new charges of massive offshore tax evasion by IRISH citizens hiding millions more in bogus offshore accounts.

OXFAM'S BOGUS OFFSHORE STUDY

With perfect OECD timing last year, the liberal UK think tank charged that tax havens deprive developing nations of $50 billion annually in tax revenue. The Oxfam lie is now exposed.

O’NEILL MISSED HIS CHANCE

The Treasury Sec. could have told all the truth; Sen. Levin and the OECD bureaucrats want to round up the runaway tax slaves and send them back to their masters. A scorching assessment.

Here is the official Treasury version of O’NEILL’s words.

ISRAELI TAX COLLECTORS GO OFFSHORE

The Income Tax Authority bills millions in back taxes to offshore businessmen alleged to have evaded taxes.

GIBRALTAR HAGGLE GOES ON

300 years after SPAIN lost The Rock to BRITAIN, the feud goes on about who should rule this leading tax haven.

U.S. OFFSHORE TAX SHELTER VETOED

WASHINGTON. An offshore tax shelter used by wealthy Americans and corporations to avoid capital gains taxes by using foreign investment rules is shut down by the US Treasury.

NEVER PAY CASH FOR U.S. TRAVEL

A chilling account of how US airline and Amtrak train employees get DEA forfeiture awards by accusing travelers who pay with cash. Read this and act accordingly.

RICH BRITS OUTSMART U.K. TAXES

LONDON. The British are growing wealthier, but also smarter when it comes to avoiding taxes.

The UK Financial Services Authority broadens its anti-money laundering actions to cover many more businesses.

KAZAKHSTAN KASH KONTROVERSY

A campaign to lure capital back to Kazakhstan with an amnesty for untaxed profits in foreign accounts raises complaints the government is helping to launder dirty money.

THAI STOCK SCANDAL EXPANDS

34 Brits, 10 Americans, 10 Australians & 10 Irish, arrested as Thai authorities smashed a phony stock broker scheme aimed at investors in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong & South Africa.

KILL ALL THE LAWYERS?

The American Bar Association is considering loosening the strict rules that protect lawyer-client confidentiality, placing possible limits on secrets lawyers must keep on behalf of their clients.

DRUG WAR KILLS BANKING PRIVACY

The US Congress has made every American bank account holder a criminal suspect. It's time for this madness to stop.

INSIDE THE N.S.A.

A lengthy, inside look at the US National Security Agency, home of the infamous Echelon electronic spy network.

FBI CYBER SPYING ATTACKED

The son of a jailed Mafia crime boss was the target of an FBI operation that allowed it to record every keystroke he made on his computer.

BIG BROTHER'S EYES

Surveillance cameras are more powerful and ubiquitous. Increasingly we're all being monitored remotely by police.

SNOOPING DOWN UNDER:

NEW ZEALAND: Police here may get new power to intercept all electronic messages, including e-mail.

SOUTH AFRICA: Free speech organizations appeal to the public to rally against a similar police law here.