The Jersey Evening Post reports:
Finance industry spokesmen have lined up to insist that the Lloyds salesman featured on Panorama’s bank ‘expos?©’ on Monday was not typical of Jersey’s banking sector.
They have insisted that his behaviour, and the advice he gave, was extraordinary and not symptomatic of a failing system.
Well if he’s not typical how come Panorama did two interviews, one in Guernsey and one in Jersey and both interviews suggested how tax could be evaded?
It’s time Jersey recognised that this story just won’t wash.
And it shouldn’t: the structure Lloyds is using is an international construction which can only have purpose, which is getting round the European Union Savings Tax Directive whose only purpose is to prevent tax evasion. That arrangement cannot have been created by the man interviewed on screen. It would have required high level approval. All he was describing therefore was a structure others, probably much more senior than him, had put in place. How then can he be ‘a rotten apple’ or ‘not typical’ in that case? Lloyds created a structure and he was selling that structure — and the aim of that structure is typical of what Jersey aims to do.
As a secrecy jurisdiction Jersey intentionally creates regulation for the primary benefit and use of those not resident in Jersey. That regulation is designed to undermine the legislation or regulation of another jurisdiction. To facilitate its use Jersey also creates a deliberate, legally backed veil of secrecy that ensures that those from outside the jurisdiction making use of its regulation cannot be identified to be doing so.
That’s the reality of Jersey. How come explaining it to a customer was in any way ‘untypical’?
The only thing typical here is Jersey’s lack of willing to face the reality of what it permits head on, and stop it. That reluctance amounts to just one thing: an endorsement of what was shown to be going on.
To put it another way: Jersey condones tax evasion. It has to. The Swiss have now admitted at least half the money in their country has been subject to tax evasion. This is also likely to be true in Jersey. Without tax evasion Jersey fails. This is the fact that Jersey dare not face. Panorama exposed it.
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The Lloyds TSB High Income Fund the salesman was pushing was formed on 1 July 1995 which predates the EUSTD by quite a few years.
Did they really only do 2 interviews, or just show 2 interviews?
If they were doing an expose on Jersey aiding tax evasion then they would hardly show any interviews with out the results that the producers wanted.(ie the good apples)
That’s what you get for biased reporting, a one sided view
Amazing that Mr. Jones, the poor sap of a front office banker, had the authority to get a fund to route its income directly to the investor via Hong Kong…
Of course senior management of Lloyds knew nothing about this, and that Mr. Jones was a rogue.
If that were true, then lloyds management deserve to be fired for incompetence.
Bwahhh ha ha
John
That is not the issue
the issue is that the payment mechanism was set up 2 weeks before the European Union Savings Tax Directive – and that is the issue
Why was that done if not to facilitate tax evasion? Answer the question
Richard
Creg
There were 2 interviews
No more
The programme was on state owned banks – Lloyds, Northern Rock and RBS, the latter being used in other examples
There is no bias
Richard
I think this is what is called a “smoking gun”. People from Jersey and Guernsey have been saying they are doing everything correctly and asking for evdence rather than assertion from those who doubt their assurances. Now here we have it. Saying this is just two bad apples just won’t cut it now. What will happen next? Maybe Jersey and Guernsey have enough friends in high places to just sweep this under the carpet. On the other hand, maybe this just smells to bad for even thier friends to hold their noses.
For those in Jersey and Guernsey who have behaved with propriety, it is, of course, all very bad news. They are likely to be tarred with same brush and should be very angry indeed with the rogue elements.
As a previous employee of LLOYDS TSB Jersey…..I know for sure that Mr Jones did not make up this information himself….Training is put in place for all workers in SALES to sell a particular Fund & get the client to invest….so you have to ask..Where did Mr Jones get this information from in the first place????
Mr Jones said it as it is. It is not the bank’s responsibility to police the clients tax returns and Richard knows so why make such a meal out of it?
Matt, you really don’t get it, do you? Here we have a bank mainly owned by the UK taxpayers deliberately selling tax evasion products. I don’t think you understand much about banks’ responsibility.
Actually, I am not much interested in Mr Jones and whether he said it as it was. I am far more interested in his superiors.
A bank has to have interest in whether its customer pays tax – if not it is ignoring its duty to report money laundering
That’s a criminal offence
Richard