Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The United Kingdom Government has been asked to provide details of any and all steps it has taken to ensure that corruption and fraud in Bermuda is "properly investigated".The request was made in a new report on British Overseas Territories by the Foreign Affairs Committee, which is appointed by the House of Commons to examine the administration, expenditure and policy of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and its associated agencies.

The unfolding saga of moves by the UK to force its Overseas Territories to recognize fiscal offences in its mutual legal assistance laws is extraordinary in that it reveals the lengths that politicians, civil servants and businessmen will apparently go to lie or mislead the public when they think it is in their best interests to do so.It also underscores the importance of newsletters like Offshore Alert, which was launched in February, 1997 to provide clients with an independent and accurate source of information in a sometimes overly secretive offshore world where the truth is often difficult to find.

Letter to OffshoreAlert's editor from Nev Johnson, Press Officer, Foreign and Commonwealth Office trying to coorect "erroneous" rumours about the Cayman Islands being forced to co-operate with tax investigations. It later transpired that the "rumours" were accurate.

Offshore Alert can today confirm that the Cayman Islands Governor, John Owen, HAS received a directive from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London instructing the island to introduce legislation to assist foreign countries with tax investigations.Yesterday, we ran a story indicating that the directive existed but also quoting senior government and business sources as categorically stating that it did not.Today, after further investigations, Offshore Alert can clear up any confusion and confirm that FCO correspondence seeking co-operation on foreign tax investigations has indeed arrived in Cayman and its existence is well-known in the top echelons of power.

Letter to OffshoreAlert's editor from Nev Johnson, Press Officer, Foreign and Commonwealth Office concerning news that the Cayman Islands was being forced to co-operate with foreign tax investigations.

Does it exist or doesn't it? That was the question being asked in the Cayman Islands this month after widespread reports that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London sent a directive to Governor John Owen instructing Cayman to pass legislation opening up bank accounts for tax investigations carried out by the world's major countries.