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09.28.01. Offshore Under Attack. A-Letter.
THE SOVEREIGN SOCIETY OFFSHORE A-LETTER
Your Link to Freedom, Prosperity & Privacy in the Offshore World
Friday, September 28, 2001 - Vol. 3 No. 77
In This Issue:
* COMMENT: A Presumption in Favor of Liberty. White House Says: No Bush Policy Change on O.E.C.D. Left Uses Terror to Hit Offshore.
* OFFSHORE: London Knocks Brit Havens; They Knock Back. Bermuda Clean. Bahamas Baloney. Belize Calls. Swiss Freeze. Anti-Money Launder Laws; Bahrain, Philippines. Vanuatu Defiant.
* PRIVACY & CIVIL RIGHTS: Will Terrorism Triumph? Surveillance, Phone Taps, Encryption Curbs, Echelon, Carnivore. ID Cards Opposed.
COMMENT: A Presumption in Favor of Liberty
by Bob Bauman, Editor
To counter Labour's police state tactics, The Daily Telegraph in London has conducted a "Free Country" campaign. Its theme - that there must always be a "presumption in favor of liberty." A corollary: "Any seizure of power by the state should be commensurate to the risk faced." Since Sept. 11 the newspaper has added that before adopting any new 'security' laws government "must first explain exactly how and why such measures would make life harder for terrorists. Somehow, in the present atmosphere, the burden of proof has been reversed," they say.
LINK: Click Here
The Bush government will do well to keep these themes in mind as it proceeds in its proclaimed "war" on terrorism. So far one of the few visible acts of this war has been an order freezing any terrorist related cash. (See Monday's A-Letter). The asset freezing was accomplished by invoking the "International Emergency Economic Powers Act, successor to the 1917 "Trading With the Enemy Act" repealed in 1977.
LINK: http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/50/ch35.html
Constitutional experts doubt that this law gives the President power to to impose sanctions on foreign banks that don't do what he tells them to do. "Even though IEEPA is broad, that doesn't give the USA jurisdiction over a bank in another country," one says. Even the liberal Financial Times says this "represents a sweeping extension of power for the US Treasury to impose sanctions on international banks."
LINKS: http://www.wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=24686
http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3Z8X0Z0SC
Whatever the legalisms, offshore banks moved quickly to check for any accounts or activity by listed terrorists. In spite of near hysterical claims by the usual anti-offshore cabal, no tax haven banks are involved, although major European banks may be.
LINK: http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT335E9H3SC
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NO BUSH ADMINISTRATION CHANGE ON THE O.E.C.D.
Transcript of Press Secretary Ari Fleischer's Sept. 24 Daily White House Press Briefing: QUESTION: "Ari, a lot of nations, foreign nations that have weak banking laws also serve to create offshore tax havens for corporations. And the OECD has been going after tax havens for a while; the Bush administration hasn't shown a whole lot of support for that effort. Is today a sign that that might change, that the administration begin supporting the OECD?" MR. FLEISCHER: "I think you should not confuse the two issues. One deals with domestic laws and deals with tax consequences and tax dodgers or tax evasions. This [the President's cash freeze order deals with terrorism."
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LEFTIST USE 'TERROR' TO HIT OFFSHORE FINANCE
For examples of the left wing attack on offshore financial freedom, using terrorism as an excuse to crush tax havens, see -
LINKS: * Shut "down the offshore financial industry."
http://www.bloomberg.com/feature/feature1001513609.html
* "There is no reason for offshore banking to exist if not for tax evasion, crime or whatever."
http://www.msnbc.com/news/633212.asp
* "War on terrorists means altering the entire banking system."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,558440,00.html
* A false report that the Bush administration now supports the OECD.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/waronterror/story/0,1361,557463,00.html
* "It is now going to be very difficult to defend the continuation of tax havens, no matter where they are," says an EU official gleefully.
http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT362NTV0SC
* Demands for financial privacy have "little to do with genuine concerns about civil liberties and everything to do with allowing wealthy people to prosper without scrutiny," says the Financial Times.
http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=010927000948
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* OFFSHORE *
U.S. SENATORS PUSH ANTI-OFFSHORE BILL
WASHINGTON. Spurred by false charges that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks were funded through tax havens, US senators want to include tough anti-offshore provisions in pending anti-terrorism legislation.
LINKS: http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/27/business/27BANK.html
Click Here
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LONDON, MAN, CHANNEL ISLANDS CAT FIGHT
The grandstanding head of the UK Financial Services Authority uses the terror issue falsely to accuse the Isle of Man and the Channel Island tax havens of having lax anti-money laundering laws.
LINK: http://globalarchive.ft.com/globalarchive/article.html?id=010927000373
The Brit tax havens immediately answered, saying their new anti-money laundering controls match or exceed those in the UK or US.
LINKS: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=5580
http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT3M0HWI3SC
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BERMUDA SAYS NO TERROR LINKS
HAMILTON. We're clean and cooperative, they say.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=5560
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BAHAMAS BALONEY
NASSAU. Having destroyed The Bahamas as an offshore haven, government now claims its Draconian new laws will thwart terrorist cash.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=5541
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BELIZE POTENTIAL RESIDENT'S KIT
Everything you ever wanted to know about living, retiring and/or investing in Belize, a true offshore tax haven.
LINK: http://magazine.escapeartist.com/goto/?27A132A2A26038
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SWISS BANK ACCOUNT FREEZE
ZURICH. Swiss freeze more bank accounts of Milosevic regime.
LINK: http://www.swissinfo.org/sen/Swissinfo.html?siteSect=111&sid=840121
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NEW ANTI-MONEY LAUNDERING LAWS
MANAMA, Bahrain. This Gulf nation will share financial info with other countries for civil, criminal and tax inquiries.
LINK: Click Here
The PHILIPPINES struggles to pass a clean cash law in order to get off the hated FATF blacklist.
LINK: http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=5514
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VANUATU DEFIES O.E.C.D.
The tiny Pacific island haven stiffs the OECD and calls for united action by other Pacific havens.
LINKS:http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=5543 ; http://www.tax-news.com/asp/story/story.asp?storyname=5556
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* PRIVACY & CIVIL RIGHTS *
WILL THE TERRORIST TRIUMPH?
"As bad as the mass casualties and widespread fear were, the worst and most long lasting scar from the attacks could be an alteration of the American way of life. Politically, the US is the freest nation on earth. If the attacks result in the curtailment of American civil liberties in the name of increased security, the terrorists' triumph will be complete."
LINK: http://www.cato.org/current/terrorism/pubs/eland-010920.html
What declaring war could mean for America.
LINK: http://www.free-market.net/spotlight/warandliberty/
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* GREATLY INCREASED SURVEILLANCE DEMANDED.
LINK: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A19500-2001Sep24.html
* U.S. CONGRESS GOES SLOW ON DEMANDS.
LINK: http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47086,00.html
* US ALREADY HAS MANY ANTI-TERROR POWERS. (free reg. required)
LINK: http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2001/1015/056.html
* MASS DETENTIONS OF PEOPLE WITHOUT CHARGES.
LINK: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25781-2001Sep25.html
* USE OF ECHELON, CARNIVORE MAY GROW
LINKS: http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2001/1015/048.html
http://www.corpece.net/informante/17_21_septiembre_2001.htm#entrevista
* GOVERNMENT COMPUTER SNOOPS AT WORK
LINK: http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2001/1015/050.html
* ENCRYPTION CURBS PROPOSED.
LINKS: http://www.securius.com/Features/Encryption/49.html ; http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/industry/09/24/encryption.debate.ap/index.html
* MANY IN US, UK OPPOSE I.D. CARDS.
LINKS: http://www.newsbytes.com/news/01/170488.html
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/010924/80/c54un.html ; http://www.wired.com/news/conflict/0,2100,47073,00.html
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THE SOVEREIGN SOCIETY OFFSHORE A-LETTER. E-mail to: info@sovereignsociety.com. * SUBSCRIBE FREE or send to a friend at LINK: http://www.sovereignsociety.com
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THE SOVEREIGN SOCIETY Ltd., 5 Catherine St., Waterford, Ireland. TEL: 353-51 844 068 FAX: 353-51 304 561. Copyright (C) 2001. All domestic & international rights reserved.
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