Offshore News Digest for Week of June 3, 2002

NEW BAHAMAS GOVERNMENT STARTS OFFSHORE REVIEW

NASSAU. Cabinet minister promises 'red carpet' for financial services, domestic & offshore, repeal of unconstitutional laws.

ST. VINCENT ENDS STRICT FINANCIAL PRIVACY

KINGSTOWN. St. Vincent & the Grenadines repeals one of the strictest financial privacy laws in the world; agrees to tax information exchange.

BERMUDANS GRAB U.K. PASSPORTS

HAMILTON. Over 1,200 people have picked up British passport applications one week after they became full British citizens.

NICARAGUA'S DARK HISTORY RECALLED

MANAGUA. Now touted as the Central American place to invest, Nicaragua's recent history should give investors pause.

LABOUR MINISTER SMEARS GIBRALTAR

Thwarted at a giveaway to Spain, London now hints at money laundering.

BRITISH BUDGET BOMBSHELL

LONDON. Buried in the small print of the 488-page Finance Bill; new powers to restrict offshore tax havens as the OECD demands.

OFFSHORE BANK SCANDAL SHAKES SPAIN

MADRID. $200 million secret stash in Liechtenstein, Jersey trusts.

SWISS, EUROPEAN UNION MOVE CLOSER

But refusal to surrender bank secrecy makes greater EU ties doubtful.

NEW ZEALAND HEALTHY BUT TAXES TOO HIGH

3% GDP growth, but 39% income taxes, 33% corporate taxes.

KOREA BOOMING, OFFSHORE ACCOUNTS TARGETED

SEOUL. It's economic recovery the envy of Asia, the government worries about offshore accounts and tax evasion.

H.R.H.'s TAX BREAK JUBILEE

LONDON. Royal family given secret deal over tax breaks.

Late Queen Mum: The art of amassing a fortune that lasts.

The true worth of the Queen; in cash that is.

BRAZIL'S RICH WAY ABOVE IT ALL

SAO PAULO. Flying above their fears, rich avoid urban violence.

DOLLAR DOWN; ECONOMISTS DEBATE IMPACT

Will inflation and interest rates rise?

TWO CONVICTED IN U.S. TAX PROTEST CASE

Phony offshore trusts and other anti-tax gimmicks.

F.B.I. SURVEILLANCE POWERS EXPANDED

Back to the bad old days with Big Brother watching every one.

SHOULD WE UNLEASH THE F.B.I.?

Can an agency that has repeatedly abused its powers be trusted?

Bill Safir definitely does not think so. J. Edgar Mueller?

REMEMBER COINTELPRO

Is this a new FBI plan to neutralize political dissidents?

E.U. VOTES TO END TELECOM PRIVACY

EU police are given sweeping powers to spy on phone calls, Internet usage and e-mail; 'greatest invasion of privacy' in years.

F.A.T.F. MISSES OWN BLACKLIST DEADLINE

PARIS. The OECD sub-group bureaucrats at the Financial Action Task Force have been loudest in blacklisting offshore tax havens they claim to be lax on fighting money laundering. Now it turns out that leading FATF member nations will not comply with FATF anti-dirty cash rules by the end of June, their own deadline. Will they blacklist themselves? Fat chance!

GIBRALTAR STRIKES BACK

Yesterday we reported on how the UK Foreign Office was smearing the government of GIBRALTAR by floating phony rumors of money laundering on The Rock. Today the UK colony's government answered in very direct terms, claiming it is the victim of UK dirty tricks.

And the people of Gibraltar will conduct their own official referendum on the question of staying with the UK or surrendering to Spain.

ARE THE SWISS MOVING LEFT?

GENEVA. Voters in Geneva have narrowly voted in favor of imposing a 'wealth tax' on those whose personal fortune exceeds SFr 1.5 million (US$960,000). 4,500 multi-millionaires living in canton Geneva will see their taxes rise as a result.

BRITISH CRITICAL OF O.E.C.D.

LONDON. Britain demands a shake up of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, to rid the Paris-based think tank of its cumbersome bureaucratic structures.

USA PATRIOT ACT RULES INCOMPREHENSIBLE

New law has American businesses totally confused about what they are expected to do about compliance. What is the definition of a 'financial institution'?

AMERICAN EXPATRIATE LISTS

Official government listings of former US citizens who surrendered US citizenship after acquiring new citizenship in other nations.

MAJOR INTERNET PROVIDER AIDS GOVERNMENT WIRETAPS

Security and Web address provider VeriSign announces it will help telephone companies and other telecoms wiretap customers.

TAX EVASION CHARGE BASED ON PROSECUTOR'S PREJUDICE?

NEW YORK. The sales tax evasion indictment of a major offshore corporate CEO may be due in part to the NY prosecutor's anger over the company's 1997 move to Bermuda in order to save taxes.

CANADA SAYS NO TERROR FUNDS PROVEN

TORONTO. Echoing what we said (Failure of Proof, 6/4), Canadian officials refuse to extradite a man accused by the US of heading a terror fund network. They say the US has offered no proof.

NO TERROR FUNDS FROM TAX HAVENS

Also echoing what has repeatedly been proven since 9/11, the FBI Director admits NYC-DC terrorists attacks were not funded by using tax havens, that financing came from the United Arab Emirates.

ANOTHER U.S. CORPORATION GOES OFFSHORE

HOUSTON. Nabors Industries Inc., world's largest land based oil and gas drilling contractor, moves to Bermuda to escape taxes.

SWISS PRIVATE BANKS IN TROUBLE

ZURICH, Profits are down, mergers seek to stave off problems.

BAHAMAS BUDGET PROBLEM CURE

NASSAU. Promote offshore investment as the solution, says Dr. Morris.

MONEY LAUNDER CHARGE ROILS GIBRALTAR

UK Labour's smear of the colony as a money laundering haven gets a strong response from The Rock; Foreign Minister Straw a traitor?

MALTA IMPROVES OFFSHORE LAWS

VALETTA. Proposals to make Malta even more offshore financially friendly are pending in parliament.

LUXEMBOURG TO EASE HEDGE FUND LAWS

In an effort to accommodate high end investors and attract business.

PANAMA PROBLEMS

Labor unrest in Colon; suspicious deal helps a major Chinese port firm.

BUSH POLICY TAX TOUGH ON FOREIGNERS

WASHINGTON. Bush Treasury urges Congress to clamp down on tax breaks for foreign companies operating in the US.

U.K. JUDGE HITS REVENUE TREATMENT OF RICH

LONDON. Condemns UK Inland Revenue for allowing super wealthy foreign domiciled residents to evade taxes.

MALAYSIAN P.M. ANTI-FREE CAPITAL

PM Mahathir Mohamad says free capital flow leads to 'anarchic' markets; calls for national capital controls.

Cato's 'Race to the Top: The Real Story of Globalization'

ASIAN ECONOMY REBUILDS

Five years after a financial typhoon, the Asian tiger still lives.

INSIDE GUILTY TAX ADVISORS CONVICTIONS

SACRAMENTO, California. Millions in secret Caribbean bank accounts washed through a Costa Rican shell entity.

U.S. SAYS RUSSIA IS A FREE MARKET ECONOMY

A decade after the fall of Communism, US makes it 'official.'