Tag: UK News

  • 18.05.09 Tax haven crackdown to hit offshore financial centres

    The number of offshore financial centres could shrink by half within the next five years as the worldwide crackdown on tax havens gathers pace, according to a prominent Jersey-based financial lobbyist.

    Geoff Cook, chief executive of Jersey Finance, a promotional body representing the financial services industry on the Channel Island, said: “It is not inconceivable to think that the number of offshore finance centres could fall by half in the next few years.”

    Cook was responding to a question on the future of offshore centres at a conference hosted by Jersey Finance in London last week. The Paris-based Organisation of for Economic Co-operation and Development lists 38 jurisdictions as tax havens.

    These include Jersey, the Cayman Islands and Liechtenstein, and less well-known and small jurisdictions such as the Caribbean islands of Aruba and Montserrat and Nauru in the Pacific.

    Cook and others reckon smaller offshore centres will feel pressure to meet increasingly tougher regulatory and disclosure rules from international organisations and governments demanding greater transparency.

    Tax havens are being forced to sign anti-secrecy agreements, or face possible sanctions from G20 countries. An estimated $7 trillion (€5.2 trillion) of assets are held offshore and, according to pressure group Tax Justice Network, developed countries lose $180bn a year in evaded taxes.
    Jay Krause, a partner at law firm Withers, said: “The next stage of development in international information sharing in tax matters will likely focus on establishing ‘automatic’ information exchange between jurisdictions.

    Such procedures may in practice be challenging for some of the smaller offshore centres to implement.” Currently, Most offshore centres only disclose information on accounts when there is a specific request from another country that has signed a tax information exchange agreement with the tax haven.

    Krause added that smaller offshore centres will also struggle to attract the required talent to defend themselves against regulatory pressures.

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  • 08.04.09 Liverpool drug gang hit with £140,000 Proceeds of Crime action by Serious and Organised Crime Agency

    liverpool-crown-court1A LIVERPOOL gang behind a massive Scottish drugs farm was stripped of thousands of pounds. John Fitzgibbon, 60, and Michael Fairhurst, 44, ran the sophisticated cannabis operation for more than two years. The Serious and Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) raided the farm on the north-east coast of Scotland in the spring of 2007. Officers took the pair and a third man, Richard Ford, 60, to Liverpool crown court to claw back as much money as possible using the Proceeds of Crime Act. The three were stripped of a total of almost £140,000 during the two-day hearing.

    Ford, a Newcastle man, was caught handing a 2kg bag of heroin to Fitzgibbon and Fairhurst. He will now have to pay back the drug’s estimated street value of £37,891. Robert Altham, prosecuting, told the court he had not attended court and so he was liable to pay back its full value as well as £2,391 in his bank account and £120 on a credit card. The court also heard that SOCA had sold off Fitzgibbon and Fairhurst’s Scottish farm for £61,000. At its peak the the cannabis farm was capable of generating more than £1m a year.

    When officers raided Little Cushnie farm the gang tried to destroy the evidence by setting fire to huge drums of cannabis. But their efforts were unsuccessful and SOCA was able to recover enough evidence to convict the gang. The pair, who also ran a drug pushing operation in Liverpool have also seen their cars impounded and sold off. The court heard that officers had seized a Toyota worth £3,500, a Ford Transit worth £1,000, a Peugeot valued at £3,900 and a Chevrolet worth £4,900. All the vehicles belonged to Fairhurst, of Stanley Park Avenue South, Anfield, and will now be sold off for an estimated total of £7,425.

    Fitzgibbon, of Bellfield Crescent, Huyton, yesterday heard that the SOCA officers had seized a stash of drugs held in the cars worth £202,375 belonging to Fitzgibbon. The court also heard that Fitzgibbon, who is now serving a 13-and-a-half jail term for his part in the drug conspiracy, had laundered money by buying thousands of euros. He will now have to pay out about £40,000 and faces an additional 15 month jail term if he fails to pay. This means he either has to sell or remortgage his home to pay off the debt by October 6.

    Meanwhile, two of Fitzgibbon and Fairhurst’s accomplices who worked as gardeners at the Scottish drug factory are serving 18 month jail terms. Wayne Nickson, 46, of David Street, Toxteth, and James Truman, 43, of Harefield Road, Speke, had both previously pleaded guilty to being concerned with the production of cannabis.

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  • 31.03.09 SOCA Issues Warning To Drug Traffickers

    The Serious Organised Crime Agency is warning drug traffickers they will face a long time behind bars if they attempt to import drugs into the United Kingdom.

    Tobagonians Owen Alfred and Oswin Moore were jailed for 18 and 15 years respectively in London today for their roles in a cocaine trafficking conspiracy. Ten other members of the organised crime gang, which has been completely dismantled by SOCA, were previously sentenced to a total of 144 years.

    Alfred and Moore were extradited from Trinidad and Tobago to the UK in June 2008 and were convicted of conspiracy to import controlled drugs following a six-week trial at Kingston Crown Court.

    SOCA Executive Director Trevor Pearce said: “Drug trafficking causes misery to local communities and funds other criminal activity. SOCA and its partners are committed to using our global partnerships to tackle this problem.

    “Today’s lengthy jail terms send a very clear message to criminals – if you come onto SOCA’s radar we will pursue you, track you down, and put you behind bars. Alfred and Moore have paid a heavy price for importing cocaine into the UK and are now in jail thousands of miles away from their family and friends. Targeting the UK is a high risk business and will not be tolerated.”

    The court heard how gang members in the UK used a money transfer service to pay Alfred and Moore to supply drugs and provide documentation, accommodation, transportation and cover stories for drug mules. Officers identified 21 mules, who had each swallowed up to one kilo of cocaine. They have all been jailed separately either in Tobago or the UK.

    Evidence including money transaction details, false letters and telephone bills enabled officers to prove approximately 140 kilos of cocaine had been sent to the UK between June 2002 and July 2005. The cocaine was being distributed by UK gang members to dealers in South London.

    Both men were arrested on behalf of SOCA by officers from the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service’s Organised Crime, Narcotics and Firearms Bureau. They were extradited to the UK in June 2008 following a court hearing in the Port of Spain.

    Trevor Pearce added: “The success of this investigation is down to the hard work and dedication of officers from both SOCA and the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service. Eight of their officers travelled to the UK to give evidence and I want to thank them for their assistance.

    “By working in partnership with the TTPS and the Attorney General’s office we have successfully dismantled an organised crime gang responsible for causing harm to the public in both the UK and Trinidad and Tobago.”

    As part of a different operation, the UK’s 120 year old extradition treaty with Colombia was used for the first time last week when a man was brought back to the UK by SOCA officers to face charges of money laundering linked to cocaine supply.

    Sentencing details:
    Kingston Crown Court, London – 31 March 2009
    • Owen Alfred, DoB 30/6/68, of Idle Wild, Scarborough, Tobago – 18 years
    • Oswin Moore, DoB 28/4/68, of Big George Junction, Orange Hill Road,
    • Patience Hill, Tobago – 15 years

    Kingston Crown Court, London – 20 July 2006
    • Paul Williams, DoB 22/06/67, Harris House, Brixton, London – 22 years
    • Delroy Gibson, DoB 19/06/67, Church Road, Gypsy Hill, London – 21 years
    • Anson Charles, DoB 25/08/59, Alexander Drive, Gipsy Hill, London (T&T national) – 20 years
    • Charles Gordon, DoB not known, Broadstone House, Kennington, London – 20 years
    • Wayne Brown, DoB 20/04/65, Whitehorse Lane, Thornton Heath, London – 10 years
    • Kerin Burris-Gordon, DoB 23/06/82, Broadstone House, Kennington – 10 years
    • Derek Anthony, DoB 28/08/68, Roberts House, Tulse Hill, London – 15years
    • Stephanie McQueenie, DoB 05/12/79, Lockwood Square, Rotherhithe, London – 13 years
    • Stacy Burris, DoB 13/07/84, Alexander Drive, Gipsy Hill, London – 7 years
    • Yvonne Anthony, DoB 03/09/75, Letchford Gardens, White City, London – 6 years

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  • 30.03.09 Wirral drug baron’s wife’s Champagne lifestyle comes to end

    liverpool-daily-post-news-dynamic-panels-image-3-7581387671SHE enjoyed a life of the most vulgar excess, once joining her husband for a £600 chauffeur ride to Claridges for a £345 meal at Gordon Ramsay’s restaurant. But yesterday the glamorous wife of a Liverpool drugs baron was locked up for laundering his ill-gotten gains. Former beautician Sara Shea used her university-educated husband Keith’s drug money to pay for an enviable lifestyle of luxury.

    He was locked up for 15 years in 2007 for plotting to flood the streets with cocaine, while storing a deadly arsenal of weapons.

    The couple married in a lavish Barbados beach ceremony – spending £12,000 on flights alone – before throwing a £6,000 homecoming at Wirral’s Hillbark hotel. They splashed out £1,095 on dinner in the Oxo Tower – washed down with a £850 bottle of Cristal champagne. Their love of designer watches included an exclusive Chopard, a diamond-encrusted Chanel and his 18-carat gold Rolex. The latter cost £11,530.

    Of course, no luxury lifestyle is complete without expensive cars.  The Sheas had their share of Porsches, before settling on the £110,000 Aston Martin police found when they raided their £300,000 Wallasey home, where the steam room had its own plasma TV. The Aston was accompanied by a £46,500 BMW and a £76,000 Porsche.

    In just a year, the Sheas spent £90,000 in lavish entertainment, including £5,000 on hospitality at the British Open golf and £1,000 a time hiring a box at the MEN Arena. Mrs Shea owned handbags worth £12,000, with an account at Christian Dior’s boutique in Monaco.

    Yesterday, smartly-dressed with sunglasses, and carrying a designer bag, she was jailed for 2½ years. Judge David Harris, QC, said: “There are other partners who may be in this position.

    “The message has to go out that, if they meddle in the proceeds of crime, particularly drug crime, there will be serious repercussions for them.”

    Liverpool Crown Court heard the jet-set couple holidayed in luxurious resorts in Mexico, Marbella, and Nice. Sara Shea claimed she never knew her husband was a drugs lord.

    But Graham Pickavance, prosecuting, told the court the couple were stripped of £7,000 and 2000 euros at Liverpool’s John Lennon airport that was heavily contaminated with Class A drugs. Mrs Shea was carrying half the money, which they never tried to reclaim. The dark-haired 30-year-old, of Montpellier Court, Wallasey, later admitted she suspected their life-style was funded by crime.

    She admitted 11 money laundering charges, totaling £104,000.
    Jonathan Clarke, defending, told the court Sara Shea had inadvertently become involved because of her husband’s actions. He said: “It is an unusual case because this defendant has played no role whatsoever in the offences that lay in such funding coming into the household coffers.
    “Her money laundering was simply spending the money she received from her husband, or being in possession of items he had bought. “She found herself there rather than seeking it.”

    Mr Clarke told the court Shea, who is now dependant on beta blockers and sleeping tablets, had moved away from crime and had been working full-time in Debenhams. She had no wish to return to her husband.

    Judge Harris agreed Sara Shea had “undoubted qualities”, but said she had led an “excessively luxurious lifestyle”. “You chose to turn a blind eye, to ask no questions and to shelter yourself from developing certain knowledge to the nature of his activity.”

    Keith and Sara Shea will face a ‘proceeds of crime’ hearing on July 18.

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  • 16 March 2009 HM Treasury warns businesses of serious threats posed to the international financial system

    The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) has announced that it remains concerned by Iran’s failure to meaningfully address the deficiencies in its Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Terrorist Financing (AML/CTF) regime, particularly in respect of terrorist financing and suspicious activity reporting.

    The FATF has called on its members to consider effective countermeasures to protect their financial sectors from risks emanating from Iran, and to protect against the use of correspondent banking relationships to bypass or evade counter-measures and risk mitigation practices.

    All UK businesses regulated under the Money Laundering Regulations 2007, whether Money Service Businesses or other regulated persons should treat transactions associated with Iran as situations that by their nature can present a higher risk of money laundering or terrorist financing, and which therefore require increased scrutiny, enhanced due diligence, and ongoing monitoring. In the light of the call for countermeasures the UK is, in addition, considering what further action is required.

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  • 11/03/09 Brown and tax havens – Treat ’em mean

    Editorial: The Guardian
    However slowly, however piecemeal, progress is being made in forcing tax havens to become less secretive. Yesterday it was the turn of Jersey to sign an agreement with the UK that it will share information about offshore tax payments. Gordon Brown has been sounding tougher too. In his address to US Congress last week was this remarkable sentence: “How much safer would everybody’s savings be if the whole world finally came together to outlaw offshore tax havens?”

    An excellent question, even if the person raising it comes as rather a surprise. This is after all the same Gordon Brown who barely did anything about tax havens during his decade as chancellor. Indeed, while Mr Brown was in Number 11, the International Monetary Fund effectively branded Britain a tax haven on account of its lax rules on rich non-domiciles. Sinners can repent, of course, but to be truly convincing they must reform. And of that there is not yet enough evidence. The tax-information exchange agreement with Jersey may be less significant than it appears. Seasoned campaigner Richard Murphy observes that the Cayman Islands, which has a similar agreement with the US, only budgets for around 120 enquiries a year. That is a tiny number considering how much money flows between the US and the Caribbean tax haven. Nor are the UK authorities being quite as tough as they make out. When officials discuss the agenda for next month’s G20 summit, it is clear that they are relying on others – whether that be the US, Germany or France, or the rich-countries club of the OECD – to take the lead in the havens debate, with the UK following some way behind.

    So any optimism must be heavily qualified – but there should still be optimism, for three reasons. The first is that the political climate is different. The US now has a president who is determined to crack down on tax havens, and the financial crisis has emboldened those European leaders who have long wanted action. Mr Brown has cover for his new-found radicalism. The second is that the financial crisis is helping to make the case against offshore tax dodging. As officials and expert outsiders are able to examine the detritus of the securitisation boom, they are finding strong evidence of how much of it was driven by the tax advantages of using offshore havens.

    Finally, there is an economic imperative – governments are spending vast sums, even while their revenues are being hit by the recession. The search is on for more ways to raise cash, even if that means a shake-down of tax havens. A fairer tax system is not inevitable, but the conditions to create one could not be more propitious.

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  • 12/02/2009 14,000 tax avoidance schemes and counting…

    At the last count, since rules requiring the disclosure of tax avoidance arrangements to HMRC were introduced in 2004 there had been around 14,000 such schemes.

    Or so we thought. Now it seems these might be far from the limit of the problem, as many “promoters” of schemes, such as accountants, lawyers and specialist “boutique” tax avoidance firms, are refusing to play the game.

    A parliamentary answer obtained by Austin Mitchell MP, who has also tabled an early-day motion urging action on tax avoidance, reveals that no fewer than 90 promoters are under investigation for failing to disclose schemes. Presumably they were either hoping they wouldn’t be picked up or think they have found a loophole in the rules.

    As promoters tend not to limit themselves to the odd scheme or two, the number of undeclared wheezes could be significant, especially if some of the bigger promoters think they have successfully found ways around disclosure. And that’s without considering any that are still beavering away unnoticed.

    Ninety promoters not disclosing schemes is alarming, even with the reassurance that HMRC is onto them. At the very least it shows that, valuable as disclosure rules are, they are no guarantee of authorities getting on top of tax avoidance.

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