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THE SOVEREIGN SOCIETY OFFSHORE A-LETTER
Your Link to Freedom, Prosperity & Privacy in the Offshore World
Tuesday, November 5, 2002 - Vol. 4 No. 115
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In This Issue:
* COMMENT: Eroding Rights.
* OFFSHORE: Panama Hits OECD. Bahamas Recession. Missing Bermuda Scott. Antigua's Latest Scandal. Channel Islands Tax Schemes. Jersey Secret Oil Accounts. Jersey-Dubai Link. Leave Swiss Alone! Gibraltar Job Worries. New Malta Laws. Singapore Inc. Muslim Funds Flee the West.
* PRIVACY & RIGHTS: How to Measure Freedom? EU Police Plan Home Raids. Canada Demands More Police Powers, Complains about US Visas.
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* COMMENT: Eroding Rights
Dear A-Letter Reader:
One of many concerns we have voiced about the rank deterioration of the administration of justice in the US and other major nations has been the overreaching of prosecutors bent on convictions at any price. A ready made legal tool for eager government attorneys is the highly elastic crime of 'money laundering,' an all purpose charge added to many criminal indictments. In the US it carries far greater penalties than tax evasion, for example. And often it is used as a bargaining chip by heavy handed prosecutors to force plea bargains and avoid trials, lest an accused face the threat of even more jail time. If you want a chill, put these basic concerns together with a little reported speech last week by David B. Palmer, the acting chief of the IRS's Criminal Investigation Division. He told a Washington group that money laundering investigations are now a central element in the IRS's crackdown on abusive offshore trusts and other suspected tax evasion matters.
This approach echoes the historic federal conviction of Chicago mobsterAl Capone back in the 1930s. Unable to nab Capone for other crimes, thefeds got him for tax evasion. Now it appears the IRS, unable to prove tax evasion, is willing to harass suspects with money laundering charges. It was only a few week ago that the IRS released the names of wealthy Americans whose only 'wrong' was to employ tax shelters the IRSadmitted were legal, but which the tax collectors didn't like.
Add to this dangerous mix another little noticed investigative report in The Hartford (Connecticut) Courant. It details how the FBI has quietly asked financial institutions around the world to review their records for transactions involving scores of small businesses, organizations and people in the US, none of whom have been charged with any crime. The object is to find terrorists and their cash, but this marks a drastic change in the relationship between law enforcement and the financial industry, which used to give records to government agents only after a showing of probable cause that a crime had occurred. The chairman of the Sovereign Society, John Pugsley, in the upcoming December issue of The Sovereign Individual, writes: "Most people think their civil rights are unaffected by the new surveillance laws because most of them have not felt any effect. While their phones may be tapped and their images scrutinized as they walk through the mall, they sense nothing. Even most of us who are sensitive to the erosion of privacy also feel no immediate consequences. Yet." "Yet" may be a lot closer than anyone suspects
That's the way that it looks from here.
BOB BAUMAN, Editor
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* COMMENT LINKS:
* FBI Enlists Bankers to Track Terror Funds. Hartford Courant. LINK:
http://www.ctnow.com/news/custom/newsat3/hc-alqaeda1103.artnov0
3,0,5386775.story?coll=hc-headlines-newsat3
* Assaults on liberties a growing concern. USA Today. LINK:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=676&e=3&cid=
676&u=/usatoday/20021101/ts_usatoday/4585172
* More Surveillance on the Way in Pending Bill. The Nation. LINK:
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20021111&s=mejia20021030
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* OFFSHORE *
TOP PANAMA OFFICIAL ATTACKS O.E.C.D.
Panama's Minister of Foreign Relations strongly attacked what he said is the OECD 'imperialistic agenda' and called for a 'level playing field' between OECD members, all other nations and offshore havens.
LINKS: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=9882
http://www.freedomandprosperity.org/Papers/aleman/aleman.shtml
* Panama government phone service monopoly blocks Net IP ports. LINK:
http://www.linuxandmain.com/modules.php?name=
News&file=article&sid=277
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THE BAHAMAS FACE MAJOR RECESSION
Huge drop in direct foreign investment a major cause; radical curbs on offshore financial sector another source of trouble.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=9863
* Still more laws promised, but what about repeal of old ones? LINK:
http://www.thenassauguardian.com/business/276221675044172.php
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BERMUDA FRAUD TANGLE LEFT BY MISSING SCOT
HAMILTON: Police lead cash hunt as creditors line up. LINK:
http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/archive/4-11-19102-0-3-13.html
* Caymans to adopt still more anti-money laundering laws.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=9868
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SNIPER CASE LATEST ANTIGUA SCANDAL
ST. JOHN'S: Bank failures, OECD blacklisting, now passport fraud. LINK:
http://www.sunspot.net/news/nationworld/bal-te.antigua04nov04,
0,5519102.story?coll=bal-news-nation
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CHANNEL ISLANDS PUSHING POST-ENRON OFFSHORE TAX SCHEMES
Still advocating offshore, off balance sheet corporate vehicles. LINK:
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=
FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1035872964019
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ANGOLA OIL MILLIONS DIVERTED TO JERSEY ACCOUNTS
Government oil funds diverted into secret bank accounts in Jersey.
LINKS: http://www.guardian.co.uk/oil/story/0,11319,825302,00.html
http://www.mg.co.za/Content/l3.jsp?o=11505
* Jersey may shift financial work to DUBAI, of all places!
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=9877
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E.U. TOLD TO STOP PICKING ON SWITZERLAND
Global tax experts attack EU bullying of Swiss bank secrecy. LINK:
http://www.freedomandprosperity.org/Articles/ft10-10-02/
ft10-10-02.shtml
* EU plans coordinated, 15 nation tax evasion crack down.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=9874
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GIBRALTAR JOB WORRIES
Financial sector jobs may be lost if Barclays cuts back operations.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=9880
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MALTA TOUGHENS FINANCIAL LAWS
VALETTA: To please the EU and gain EU membership, the Mediterranean island shakes off a 'tax haven' image. LINK:
http://www.thelawyer.com/lawyernews/article.asp?fn=
42593.xml&s=1&subs=55&pd=28/10/2002
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SINGAPORE INCORPORATED
Nation held up as free market example is anything but.
LINK: http://www.feer.com/articles/2002/0211_07/p042money.html
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$200 BILLION IN MUSLIM FUNDS FLEE U.S, WESTERN BANKS KUALA LUMPUR: New Islamic bank rules claim to end West's 'debt slavery' as anti-terrorism pushes cash to Muslim nations.
LINKS: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2393685.stm
http://business-times.asia1.com.sg/news/story/
0,2276,62612,00.html
http://www.globeandmail.com/servlet/ArticleNews/PEstory/TGAM/
20021104/IBMUSS/International/international/
internationalAsiaHeadline_temp/4/4/8/
* Can't go offshore? Try an embassy tour in Washington, DC. LINK:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A45817-2002Oct31.html
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* PRIVACY & RIGHTS *
HOW DO YOU MEASURE FREEDOM?
Sovereign Society Council of Experts member Pierre LEMIEUX
questions accuracy of recent freedom rating indexes. LINK:
http://www.nationalpost.com/financialpost/story.html?
id={B696F790-46DC-4820-A83B-261571F098B0}
* Sovereign Society Council of Experts' Hubert JONGEN's International
Libertarian website. LINK: http://www.libertarian.to/index.php
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EUROPEAN UNION POLICE MAY RAID PRIVATE HOMES
Price fixing probe rules allow raids on employees homes. LINK:
http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=
FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1035872956643
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CANADA DEMANDS EXTRAORDINARY POLICE POWERS
OTTAWA: Liberals push controversial 'security' law. LINK:
http://www.canada.com/national/story.asp?
id={D542E541-B34B-4F4F-A26E-9DCDA4F266C2}
* Canada angry over new, stricter US visa, border policies. LINK:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/
1036331643902_64///?hub=TopStories
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