David Cameron was today caught describing Nigeria to the Queen as ‘fantastically corrupt’. But after the Panama Papers leak, the Prime Minister may want to choose his words more carefully: after all, that accolade could easily belong closer to home.
Your average dodgy Nigerian oil baron and big-time British fraudster have much in common; a shared love of champagne, a doctor in Harley Street and… a little company based off-shore in a tax haven whose sole purpose is to hide stolen fortunes. And in most cases, that tax haven is one of ‘ours’ – either a British Overseas Territory or a Crown Dependency.
Half of the companies featured in the Panama Papers were registered in British-administered tax havens. These overseas territories vary in the degree of venality and abuse they accommodate but collectively they are dragging our British brand through the mud.
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