This comment was in the Jersey Evening Post, from Geoff Cook, the head of Jersey Finance, which markets the island's financial services sector:
In a career spanning over 30 years in financial services, which has taken me across the globe, I have discovered no jurisdiction that has such a commitment to truth, transparency and integrity as Jersey.
Our reputation is everything, we guard it jealously, and defend it vigorously. If we can act to assist those who are less well-off while upholding the principles of international law, we will, and as quickly as we can.
Well sometimes you have to laugh or you'd cry.
Let me ask Geoff about these commitments to transparency:
- Why is it possible for vulture funds to use Jersey?
- Why can no one see the accounts of a Jersey company?
- Why is it usually impossible to find out who owns or controls a Jersey company?
- Why do you allow sham trusts that let the settlor also be the beneficiary and to control the trust - a concept alien to real trust law?
- Why won't you fully information exchange under the European Union Savings Tax Directive?
- Why does the UK think you non-cooperative for information exchange purposes?
- Why have you not signed tax information exchange agreements with almost any developing country?
- Why do so many scandals and frauds seem to find their way to Jersey?
- Why do so many banks have so many subsidiaries in Jersey about which no one knows anything?
- Why has Jersey helped to undermine the PAYE system in the UK through the use of employee benefit trusts, and so repeatedly?
- Why has Dave Hartnett had to say the informationexchange deals with jersey don't give him all the information he needs?
- Why did you fight so hard to charge no tax on offshore companies using Jersey whilst increasing it heavily on the people of your island?
Go on Geoff: just answer, in full.
And tell us whilst you're about it when the commitment to transparency and poor people will come into play?
Or will you duck this as you do all our other challenges because you know you can't answer?
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Most tax havens churn out unremitting and absurd PR on a daily basis …
Jersey is one of the best at it!
It is designed to comatose their own population and fool the rest of the world into believing that they are purer-than-the-driven-snow — whilst they busy themselves maintaining and developing iniquitous and complex tax dodging conspiracies which have a disastrous influence on the poor countries of the world — and increasingly on you and me.
Sometimes they co-opt toadies from the City to help conceal their hypocrisy.
It’s like a comedy show – except that it is not funny!
Name one country who does not use the media for PR and political means? UK is the worst at it! Look at the current case of phone hacking and the Leveson enquiry. It is expected that journalists will be restricted in many ways as a result of this enquiry. Now, I don’t agree with phone hacking and some other extremely intrusive measures that have been used to write stories, but as a result of measures like this, the government expenses scandle was uncovered, along with many other serious crimes. If journalists can no longer use these methods, and are severely restricted as far as access to data is concerned, this could essentially protect the government from scrutiny and protect them from future scandals to a great degree.
In a time when you and many other groups are asking for greater freedom of information, especially from places such as IOM, Jersey, etc., restrictions like this will take freedom of information away from the British general public. It is totally hypocrytical and against the public interest.
“Name one country who does not use the media for PR and political means?”
Well of course they do it’s known as “politics”- but Jersey uses the media to fool the world into believing that it is an honest and transperant,jurisdiction which it is NOT.
As will be demonstrated by a total failure to provide satisfactory replies to any of Mr. Murphey’s twelve questions.
Will have to stop now as the feeling of nausea is making me feel quite ill…..
This statement drives the b*llshitometer up to about 99%. You wonder if Geoff Cook was able to hold a straight face or had that tell-tale wet stain on his crotch due to inability to maintain muscle control while delivering the statement
Perhaps, Mr Cook is referring to Jersey’s reservoirs? These are now 100% transparent, i.e. empty. A monument to the continual failure of the States of Jersey to provide basic services to the island.
Exactly how does finance benefit Jersey, when there isn’t any water to drink?