Offshore News Digest for Week of January 28, 2002

TAX HAVENS STILL VERY MUCH IN BUSINESS

EIU study shows Switzerland leads with 1/3 of US$3 trillion offshore.

ISLE OF MAN MAY BEND TO O.E.C.D. TAX DEMANDS

Possible end to offshore tax breaks, new tax info sharing.

MAJOR U.B.S. BANK UNITS QUIT CAYMANS FOR BAHAMAS

Private banking and trust units leave in wake of new US-Caymans tax information sharing agreement. Locals upset.

GIBRALTAR SLIPPING INTO SPANISH CONTROL

An AP story garbles the real facts but reflects true concerns.

WTO RULING MAY PROMPT MAJOR OFFSHORE TAX REFORM

The WTO ruling against the US foreign sales corporation tax break could promote a US territorial tax instead, CFP study says.

UNITED NATIONS WORLD TAX PLANS KNOCKED

Opposition mounts but the UN world tax agenda keeps on rolling.

ANYTHING TO STOP DICTATOR MUGABE

The leading opposition newspaper in ZIMBABWE asks for help.

JAPANESE SWITCH TO GOLD

TOKYO. Nervously taking cash out of banks, they buy gold.

And for gold producers, the question is to hedge or not to hedge.

ISRAEL TAXES HIT MIDDLE CLASS

2% of GDP goes just for taxes.

CANADIAN DOLLAR FEARS

Fear mounts as the loonie continues its downward slide.

FinCEN GETS MORE POWER & MONEY

The federal money spies get a budget boost and all money service businesses are forced to register with the government.

U.S. TAX CODE INCOMPREHENSIBLE

Few, if any, can understand the IRC or the IRS.

F.B.I. RULES MAKE BANKS GOVERNMENT SPIES

New anti-terror rules could apply to almost any account holder.

BRITISH LABOUR DROPS JURY TRIAL ABOLITION

Blair abandons plan to restrict the right to trial by jury.

WHAT GOVERNMENT SAYS IT MEANS

The Free Congress Foundation web site provides the US Dept of Justice section-by-section analysis of the USA PATRIOT ACT.

OPPOSE UNCHECKED DOMESTIC U.S. SPYING

FBI spying on domestic religious and political organizations is planned, another civil rights casualty of the war on terrorism. Here what you can do to stop it.

MARYLAND SEEKS POLICE STATE STATUS

The so-called 'Free State' becomes less so, as police get power to wiretap secretly for almost any alleged crime.

'YOUR PAPERS PLEASE'

Motor vehicle operators licenses used as a cover for a national ID system, but AmericanS are wary of this Big Brother scheme.

U.S. FOREIGN AID FUNDS TERRORISTS

The US government's myopia on cash for tyrannies.

THE STATE OF OFFSHORE HAVENS

PANAMA CITY. Offshore veteran Derek SAMBROOK, gives a lucid look at the new world.

ENRON DEALS PUT CAYMANS IN SPOTLIGHT

The NY Times examines the "new" Cayman Islands and its slipping place as the 5th largest financial center in the world.

BELIZE BOUNCES BACK; ASHCROFT'S REVENGE

Bureaucrats get fired as Belize's leading investor keeps his tax breaks.

B.V.I. VETS OFFSHORE MUTUAL FUNDS

ROAD TOWN. The British Virgin Islands Registrar of Mutual Funds vets offshore havens for tight laws and clean cash.

ARGENTINES FLEE HOME TO EUROPE

Here's the stark proof of why you may need a second passport.

RICH MONEGASQUES MAY SUE BANK

MONTE CARLO. Rich residents threaten to sue HSBC over delays in refund payments after a local bank manager embezzles $20 million.

SWISS-MONACO CLEAN CASH ALLIANCE

Switzerland signs an info exchange accord with MONACO to curb possible money laundering activity.

FINANCIAL TIMES SNIDE LOOK AT GIBRALTAR

FT's unsympathetic writer thinks colonials should do as told.

F.A.T.F. MEETS IN HONG KONG

Later this week the OECD's Financial Action Task Force meets in Hong Kong to rearrange their blacklist and fight terrorists.

OFFSHORE FUNDS MAKE BIG GAINS

More than 90% of the world's 500 biggest offshore money funds locked in strong gains during the 4th Q of 2001.

OFFSHORE LOANS WAY UP

Major international bank loans in offshore havens increased 14% to $8.49 trillion in the 3rd Q 2001, led by insurance & hedge funds.

U.S. MAY BOW TO W.T.O. RULING

Tax breaks for US exports are the issue, but a good solution may be adoption of territorial taxes for US offshore business.

WORLD BANKERS DISPUTE NEW STANDARDS

Basel Banking Committee tackles risk and liquidity.

ANGLO IRISH BANK EXPANDS AGAIN

As profits soar, AIB acquires another Swiss private bank.

SHAM TRUST SELLER GET 10 YEARS IN PRISON

A militant tax evader who sold phony offshore trusts goes to prison.

And here's the US Treasury's 'abusive trust schemes' warning web page.

PATRIOT ACT CREATES 'FEDERAL RECEIVER'

A new breed of US official, the 'Federal Receiver,' will have broad powers over assets of alleged foreign money launderers.

U.S. SUPER BOWL BETTORS GO OFFSHORE

Sunday's football Super Bowl is the year's biggest gambling event. While few Americans can bet on the game legally, many will go offshore.

WISDOM FROM RON PAUL

The libertarian US Congressman explains how America best can defend against terror and how too much government killed Enron.

WELCOME TO AMERICA; WE'RE WATCHING YOU!

New tracking system monitors foreigners' arrivals & departures.

FROZEN 'TERRORIST' BANK ACCOUNTS

Mistaken identity prompts SWEDEN to asks what are the rights of those whose bank accounts have been frozen in the war on terrorism.

BIG BANKS WANT CLEAR TERROR WAR CASH RULES

Incomplete, vague lists of alleged terrorists must be more accurate, the big bank Wolfsberg Group says. Wolfsberg Group's Web site, enter here and here.

NEW YORK TIMES SPEAKS TRUTH ABOUT E.U.!

"From Spain to Scandinavia, European politics is drifting to the right...feeding off antipathy toward the European Union which seems to many Europeans to have swallowed their national identity in a meddling, continent-wide bureaucracy that no one elected."

CRUCIAL SWISS-E.U. NEGOTIATIONS

Switzerland & the EU will lock horns over banking secrecy.

SWISS-FRENCH BORDER COOPERATION

The two nations set up a cross border anti-crime force.

LUXEMBOURG STIFFS RADICAL FRENCH CHARGES

An angry response to a left-wing French charges of dirty cash.

ST. VINCENT GRABS TWO OFFSHORE BANKS

The government takes control of offshore banks after their French owner flees the islands in the wake of money laundering charges.

PANAMA'S NEW E-COMMERCE LAW EXPLAINED

A leading offshore haven comes of age digitally.

BAHAMAS BALONEY

With tourism down, financial services fleeing, banks in receivership, The Bahamas prime minister claims everything is just fine.

BAHAMAS NASSAU INSTITUTE FEARS TAX ACCORD

US-Bahamas tax info agreement hurts offshore financial services.

COMMONWEALTH MEETING HEARS TRUTH

LONDON. Offshore havens are not terrorist cash conduits.

HONG KONG SLIPS AS OFFSHORE HAVEN

HK in danger of losing its edge as an international business center.

And it faces a $50 billion budget deficit.

F.A.T.F. MEETS IN HONG KONG

And the Philippines stays on its dirty money blacklist.

BAD INVESTMENT AREAS

Investment in ISRAEL suffers a sharp drop based on unrest.

And unrest in southern Africa also drives out investors.

FOR WANNABE EXPATS: F.T. COUNTRY LIVING GUIDES

Country summaries, immigration, taxes, & cost of living data.

LAWRENCE STILL IN JAIL OVER OFFSHORE TRUST SILENCE

MIAMI. 14 months and options trader Stephan Lawrence is still in prison for refusing to turn over $7 million in an offshore trust.

ARE GOLD PRICES RIGGED?

The Gold Anti-Trust Action Committee says they are, and explains how and why.

CREDIT CARD COMPANIES, BROKERS AS GOVERNMENT SPIES

A US congressman thinks anti-money laundering laws should apply to all credit card companies and card holders.

US stock brokers accept their new role as US money spies.

A THOUSAND YEARS OF MONEY

And governments still ignore the clear lessons of the past.

S&P RATES BEST OFFSHORE FUNDS

In a universe of over 7,500 offshore funds, how do expats sort the good from the bad? Standard & Poors will help.

WORLD'S MOST EXPENSIVE CITIES

Tokyo and Osaka are the world's most expensive cities, London the most costly in Europe, says the Economist EIU.

HOW YOU CAN COMBAT IDENTITY THEFT

Courtesy of Vern JACOBS, CPA.

BRITS PROPERTY GUILTY UNTIL PROVEN INNOCENT

UK House of Lords rules property can be kept by police unless an accused owner can prove it is not derived from criminal activity.

BUSH CLAIMS PRIVACY HE WONT GIVE YOU

President Bush pushed through new laws stripping Americans of financial privacy, but he won't hand over records demanded by Congress.

FEDS WANT YOUR READING LIST

The PATRIOT ACT requires libraries to surrender patron records with no notification to the people affected.

BACK DOOR NATIONAL I.D. SYSTEM

State motor vehicle bureaus push to turn auto drivers licenses into national IDs.

HUMAN G.P.S. CHIP IMPLANTS FOR SALE

Kidnapped? Global positioning chips to the rescue.